ORLANDO, Fla. – Until it was shut down earlier this year, visitors to a Russian website could view live video from thousands of wireless security cameras, allowing them to secretly peek into strangers' bedrooms, nurseries and living rooms.
One of those links, showing live video from a camera mounted in a child's bedroom, was reportedly broadcasting from somewhere in the Orlando area. One morning in December, a woman could be seen entering the room, waking up the young boy, and taking him into the bathroom, presumably to get ready for school.
Other cameras from the Central Florida area showed a man sitting at a desk, a couple eating a meal at a table, a man climbing out of bed and numerous overhead shots of baby cribs.
Although the website is no longer online, people with moderate computer skills can likely still access those unsecured cameras, according to technology experts.
"I heard someone talking on the camera monitor and was like, maybe my bosses are playing a trick on me or something," said Ashley Stanley, a professional nanny who works in Houston.
While babysitting her client's child, Stanley says a man began communicating with her over the wireless baby monitor.
"They kept telling me that it's a cute baby and 'wow, that is a poopy diaper'," said Stanley, who quickly realized a stranger was spying on her. "I was like, 'My goodness, are they watching me like right now?"
Incidents like that raise concerns about wireless cameras, which transmit video and audio over a home's WiFi network.
"You don't want someone else to be able to see inside your home, especially when you're using (the camera) for security purposes," said Andre Goodlow, a member of the Best Buy Geek Squad. "You think (the camera) is to help secure it, and it's actually opening the door to those with bad intentions."
Goodlow said it is relatively easy for someone to take control of cameras and other wireless devices if customers do not change the passwords originally programmed by the device manufacturers. That includes the passwords for WiFi routers.
"If you don't change these, anyone who is walking around can log into your computer, change your actual WiFi signal, the name of it, and lock you out of your own device," said Goodlow.