Softcam - Risks

Risks

Having multiple webcam emulators installed on a personal computer may increase the risk of Camfecting. In the field of computer security, camfecting is the fraudulent process of attempting to hack into a person's webcam and activate it without the webcam owner's permission.

Remotely activated webcams can be used to watch anything within the webcam's field of vision, sometimes the webcam owner itself. Camfecting is most often carried out by infecting the victim's computer with a virus that can provide the hacker access to the victim's webcam. This attack is specifically targeted at the victim's webcam, and hence the name camfecting, a portmanteau of the words cam and infecting.

Typically, a webcam hacker or a camfecter sends his victim an innocent-looking application which has a hidden Trojan software through which the camfecter can control the victim's webcam. The camfecter virus installs itself silently when the victim runs the original application. Once installed, the camfecter can turn on the webcam and capture pictures/videos. The camfecter software works just like the original webcam software present in the victim computer, the only difference being that the camfecter controls the software instead of the webcam owner.

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