Parent Alert: Man Hacks Baby Monitor and stalks to 2 year old child

As a parent of two and someone who has used baby monitors until very recently, this is something really disturbing. Apparently a man found a way to hack this couple’s baby monitor and stalk their 2 year old daughter.

A Houston, Texas couple was horrified when the baby monitor in their young child’s room was taken over by a hacker who verbally attacked them and even used their daughter’s name.
Marc Gilbert says he was doing the dishes following his birthday celebration when he heard strange sounds coming from 2-year-old Allyson’s bedroom.

He discovered they were coming from the baby monitor as a stranger’s voice called his sleeping daughter an ‘effing moron’ and ‘little slut’ before he quickly unplugged it.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the man was not only talking through the monitor, he had control of the camera, too!!

The hacker then yelled at Gilbert and his wife, using expletives in what they described as a ‘British or European accent.’

'He said, 'Wake up Allyson, you little (expletive),'" Gilbert said.

Allyson is deaf. Though she has a cochlear implant, it was turned off and she was never bothered by the shocking intrusion.

Then things became even creepier.

'I see the camera move on us,' Gilbert said.

‘At that point I ran over and disconnected it and tried to figure out what happened,’ Gilbert told ABC News.
The father of two did his research and now believes his home internet router was hacked and the monitor was subsequently accessed.

www.dailymail.co.uk...

Who knows how long this had been going on. There is an alarming rise in child predators using new technology to gain access to our children. Predators are also using photos posted online to locate your children; where they live, where they play, where they go to eat, where they go to school, etc. This makes it very easy for someone to gain access to your child.

Tech expert John Rettinger, president of Techno Buffalo, a tech news website, points out most smartphones have a GPS chip built into them. So when you're taking a picture, it actually takes your location and stores it on that photo.

Rettinger says the same technology that helps people see real-time traffic updates and find directions on their phones also leads to GPS coordinates being attached to pictures.

Not only can you know exactly what was taken, you know exactly the time that the picture was shot, Rettinger said.

Koeppen said all it takes to find someone's location based solely on a picture is the right computer program, and just a couple of minutes.

www.cbsnews.com...

Walking your kids to the bus stop and monitoring their phone and internet use isn’t enough anymore. Be vigilant!! There are some sick people in this world.

reply to post by seabag


Thank you for posting this seabag. I'm a new father. We don't have a big enough space to utilize monitors... And my daughter is loud like me... So we know when she's up.... I be showing this article to my wifey later today.

I'm sickened to hear about this... And angered...

reply to post by seabag


All of this could be easily avoided by securing your equipment, something the freaking basic setup manual tells you to do.

As well, I saw the same geo-tagging video report you mentioned, maybe that's on by default on IOS, but it's something you have to opt into on my android phone.

It's scarey for sure, but a little bit of preparation can fix that in a hurry.

Always secure your router, period.

Step 1. Disable management via WAN. This means, you have to be wired into the router to access the management page and make any changes. This is very very important.

Step 2. this should be step 0 actually. Google your model of router and verify if there is a preset backdoor admin password, there usually is. If you followed step 1, the hacker has to be in your house to really do much.

Step 3. Strong salted password/passphrase using WPA2. Salted meaning adding in capitols, alternate characters, etc etc. the harder the password is, the longer it takes to crack, the less likely joe blow hacker will spend the time doing it.

Step 4. enable MAC address filtering on the router and only add the mac addresses of your devices. This isn't fool proof, step 1 to hacking wifi is to spoof your mac to appear to be a client that should be there.

As for phones and cameras, go into the camera setting and disable location tagging, it's that simple. In fact, if your child has an idevice or smartphone or anything with a camera, and you haven't setup a secure account for them, you aren't doing your job.

your child should not have access to change any of those settings, only you.

reply to post by sulaw

Thank you for posting this seabag. I'm a new father. We don't have a big enough space to utilize monitors... And my daughter is loud like me... So we know when she's up.... I be showing this article to my wifey later today.

I'm sickened to hear about this... And angered...

You’re very welcome. I didn’t even know it was possible to do something like 'hack' a baby monitor. My wife and I have used one for years because our bedroom is on the other side of the house from our kids. I thought we were being vigilant….we set the alarm every night, we check on the kids periodically throughout the night, I walk through my house and check all the doors before bed, we used the monitors, I keep a gun handy at all times, etc. Now I’m feeling a bit guilty, much like that father in the article described, because I may have inadvertently put my children in danger.

Like he said….it won’t happen again!

reply to post by phishyblankwaters

All of this could be easily avoided by securing your equipment, something the freaking basic setup manual tells you to do.

I never read it….it’s a camera with a microphone built in and a simple power cord.

I’m not sure how in the world you can ‘secure it’ because there are no buttons…only ON/OFF switch and volume....and it doesn't have a USB or phone line connection.

reply to post by seabag


no no, i meant the router, not the baby monitor. The baby monitor, depending on the technology, might be hackable on it's own, but more than likely the point of entry was the router.

But... anything with wifi is potentially a hole, even those wifi enabled lightbulbs can be hacked.

I really have no clue how you'd secure a wifi enabled baby monitor, if at all.

reply to post by seabag


Minus being accross the house from the kids, I'm right there with you and am guilty of the same.

It's scary how the non-obvious ways that technology can impact lives. Seems like anything can be hacked nowadays.

Even home security systems if the hacker is saavy enough. You have cameras up in your home? I wouldn't doubt that is hackable either.

Cars (so they say)

This is just scary... Daddy no likey~

reply to post by sulaw

Even home security systems if the hacker is saavy enough. You have cameras up in your home? I wouldn't doubt that is hackable either.

If a perve can use this technology to spy on our kids, imagine who else could use it for other purposes….



I don’t think for a minute there aren’t ‘others’ using this ability.

'He said, 'Wake up Allyson, you little (expletive),'" Gilbert said.

No. I'm sorry.
This is disturbing.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters

no no, i meant the router, not the baby monitor. The baby monitor, depending on the technology, might be hackable on it's own, but more than likely the point of entry was the router.

Oh, OK! Yes, you’re right. That’s what they said in the story….it was a router.

The father of two did his research and now believes his home internet router was hacked and the monitor was subsequently accessed.

I only have a wireless plug-in router so maybe I was safe. We are guilty of posting pix though. My wife is a FB queen and she has posted many pix of our kids.

reply to post by iunlimited491

'He said, 'Wake up Allyson, you little (expletive),'" Gilbert said.

No. I'm sorry.
This is disturbing.

What can I say…the perv had a sense of humor!

However, I wouldn’t find that part humorous if it was my daughter.

Only way to get a Camera hacked is when people visit shady websites or click on loaded links. Baby monitor on the other-hand is just simple radio frequency.

People are too stupid to secure their network from script kiddies and such. Follow the instructions in the manual( and as posted above) and you will be pretty safe from all but the most determined. Don't name your password your family name or anything, and the more confusing you make your wifi name the harder it will be to identify. Don't call your network "Wilsons place" if your last name is wilson for instance. I like to freak out my neighbors so mine changes its name randomly(when I feel like it) to stuff like "FBI van 1021" or "CIA Sub room" stuff like that.

Also change and disable the freakin default admin account. If you have bluetooth stuff (ugh) keep it off and get rid of it. Keep file sharing off as well. Take 20 seconds to walk a usb over to the other computer.

Originally posted by tnhiker
People are too stupid to secure their network from script kiddies and such. Follow the instructions in the manual( and as posted above) and you will be pretty safe from all but the most determined. Don't name your password your family name or anything, and the more confusing you make your wifi name the harder it will be to identify. Don't call your network "Wilsons place" if your last name is wilson for instance. I like to freak out my neighbors so mine changes its name randomly(when I feel like it) to stuff like "FBI van 1021" or "CIA Sub room" stuff like that.

Also change and disable the freakin default admin account. If you have bluetooth stuff (ugh) keep it off and get rid of it. Keep file sharing off as well. Take 20 seconds to walk a usb over to the other computer.

What has any of that got to do with baby monitors?

reply to post by PhoenixOD

What has any of that got to do with baby monitors?

From OP,

'I see the camera move on us,' Gilbert said. ‘At that point I ran over and disconnected it and tried to figure out what happened,’ Gilbert told ABC News. The father of two did his research and now believes his home internet router was hacked and the monitor was subsequently accessed.

reply to post by luciddream


Yeah i see that now, i had no idea they had baby monitors with IP cams

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Im not sure it does, but i think he was speaking about his Webcam... There are Webcam Viruses... you accidentally download without realizing(all from clicking on a link) and it give the person Access to your webcam.

reply to post by luciddream


It says in the source article that the monitor had an IP cam.

Webcam viruses mostly rely on a base system like a PC to operate.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters
This will work for the majority of cases but people also have to keep in mind any camera designed to transmit outside of their home. There are quite a few security and baby/nanny monitoring devices that allow a homeowner to connect remotely and this remote access can be locked down too. That means making sure you have a strong password and so on. One way that I have mine secured is that I have my router configured to only allow remote connection on that port from my specific IP (work network in same house but separate from home network) or truly remotely via a VPN tunnel with MAC filtering.
If one should ever hire a security consultant to set things up for themselves, they should make sure to understand what they are configuring and maintain control over the router and other admin passwords that your system may require.
Know how to change them and do so after the tech leaves or ask the tech to let you enter new ones before he leaves, to be sure they can't get back in remotely. Don't let them leave one of their own in place, even if they tell you it's so they can make changes remotely if needed. Let them know that you will be willing to change it for them next time you call them for assistance.

One last thing, if you don't access your network configurations on a regular basis, write your password down and keep it in a safe place.

reply to post by PhoenixOD
Yes, they do and a lot of people use them to keep tabs on the nannies and sitters when the baby is left in their care.

Like this one: _18624960064%7C-%7CqFIhnoFX]IP Baby Monitor