Baby monitor hacked to spy on two-year-old in Texas

Need a reason to make sure your networks and Internet connections are safe and secure? Well, here’s one. A Texan family was in for a rude shock when they realised that the baby monitor in their daughter’s room had been hacked and an unidentified man was spewing expletives at her.

According to an ABC report, Marc Gilbert and his wife Lauren heard strange noises from their two year old daughter’s bedroom and panicked that there may have been an intruder in her room. They went in to realise that their daughter Allyson’s baby monitor – that included a camera – was hacked into.

The baby monitor was hacked into (Image credit: Getty Images)

The hacker, who was clearly disturbed, kept making lewd remarks about Allyson and called her an “effing moron” even as she slept. At one point, he called the toddler a “slut” and asked her to wake up. Even as the couple entered the room, the hacker began abusing them.

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The moment Gilbert realised that it was possible the camera attached to the baby monitor could have been taken over by the hacker, he immediately disconnected it. The family believes that it’s lucky in a way that their daughter Allyson, who is hearing impaired, could not hear anything spoken by the hacker as her cochlear implants were disabled for the night.

Gilbert did not register a police complaint for fear of his family’s security and therefore not too much information about the baby monitor setup is available. It is possible, according to experts like Dave Chronister, Managing Partner of Parameter Security, that the family was using a webcam equipped with speakers that could have been compromised by the hacker thanks to a weak password.

This incident will serve as a reminder that Internet security should not be taken lightly and can have far wider ramifications than simply having their accounts hacked. An event like this could potentially be damaging to children too. In case you have not already, make sure your networks are safeguarded with a password that is long and set up preferably using Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) thanks to its better encryption standards.