“Some criminals have learned how to spy on Americans, hacking into our home computers and looking out through the video cameras attached to the screen,” stated US Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat from Rhode Island.

“The government is allowing criminals, terrorists, and other hostile groups and people to exploit the web and attack our privacy,” states politifact.com.

Hackers are able to trick innocent civilians to click on a link or pop-up created by a hacker, they could be accidently be installing a malicious software. This opens the window for these criminals to get through to a computer, according to The New York Times. 

“We know now that hackers have been around since 1998,” explained David Sherry, chief info officer for Brown University, “ever since a group of hackers calling itself the ‘Cult of the Dead Cows’ designed software that, once downloaded, could be used to control a computer remotely. With the proliferation of webcams-equipped laptops, the potential of poor of voyeur victims has swelled immensely”.

Hackers are able to trick innocent civilians to click on a link or pop-up created by a hacker, they could be accidentally be installing a malicious software. This opens the window for these criminals to get through to a computer.

“Over the years there have been many privacy violations through this spyware, but there are a few simple ways of protecting your computer. A few of these include: reading and ad before you click, putting a Post-it on your webcam when not using it, and scan your computer annually with trusted programs,” advised online-tech-tips.com.