Latest studies on cybercrime say that one in every two Americans is defenseless about webcam hacking. Do you fall in that chunk? It’s time to find it out. But, before you care about the fact that whether your webcam has been hacked or not, consider these latest and alarming  global stats about cybercrime:

• 230,000 news malware’s are getting launched every day
• 44 data records are getting stolen every second
• 95% of cybercrimes happen due to human errors.

Does these ring a bell?

So, it’s time. You should zero on the single issue first, and that’s whether your webcam has been hacked already or it’s in a vulnerable level to get hacked in no time. Roll up your sleeves and look for loose ends in your cybersecurity.

Statistically, the most thriving way for hackers to breach into your web security is your webcam. So, webcam hacking is quite a common cybercrime today and it dates back to the big bang. Always remember that a webcam hacker does love to get into your personal life by watching you through your webcam. Steal your private time. Make it public with pleasure. So?

Yah. In this article we will try to shed some light on how to check whether your webcam has been hacked or not. If hacked, the possible remedies to turn it around.

So, let’s step in.

Webcam indicator Light

Most of the regular webcams come with indicator light(red, green. White or else). When you use your webcam, the indicator light on your glows. It can glow in a flashing manner or in a strong and steady way. So, if you are not using your webcam but the indicator light doing something it’s a clear conscience that someone or some other program is controlling your webcam.

You are not running such programs? Well, your webcam has been hacked. Stop what you are doing immediately and shut your system down. Boot it up in the safe mode and go to your webcam settings. Look for unwanted changes and if there is any, change it.

Is there a new program running on your system behind your knowledge? Is that controlling your webcam? Webcam hacked?

Probability is high that it can be a malware, a virus or god knows what. How to find it out? Starting with task manager is a good idea. Added to that, you can go to the control panel to see if there is any program which is installed and unknown. Uninstall it or find other ways to remove the same. Now, track down other programs which can be using your webcam. If they are known it’s good. If not, you need to revoke the webcam accessing authority from them.

Your storage can tell you a good story about your webcam.

If your webcam has been hacked and it’s recording something unknowingly, chances are high that those recordings are getting stored on your hard drive. Now, webcam recordings get stored to a specific location set by you or your webcam(default).

Move to that specific location. Scroll through the webcam recording files and watch for files which are not done by you. If there is any recording file that’s unknown to you, then be sure that a webcam hacker has done all these recordings and he is still doing it.

There can be another issue. Webcam hackers can control and set a new location on your hard drive for the webcam recordings. They may fool you out in this way. So, what to do?

Search your entire storage for similar files and check each and every until you get satisfied with your cybersecurity.

Check your webcam security settings. Stop it from getting hacked.

Any change not done by you? A changed password? Firewall protection changed? Are you not being able to change the security settings of your webcam?

Yah. These are the extremely important and valid questions when your webcam has been hacked or it’s going to due to security vulnerabilities that missed your attention. So, check and recheck everything.

Is your network eating more data than it should?

I meant the data flow of your network. Check it. You can check the same from the task manager if you are connected to any private or public network. Watch out for the steep spikes in the data flow. If there spikes that means something or some program on your system is pulling an abnormal amount of data from your network. See, which program is doing that.

How to?

Launch task manager. Go to the ‘App History’ tab. On this tab, you will be able to snake through the whole list of apps that are using your network. Is your webcam among the list and it shouldn’t be? Maybe a webcam hacking software is doing all the trick. Consider, removing it.

Also read: Task manager Not Opening in Windows 10? Here is how You Solve It.

Remove unwanted programs – Antivirus

Although Antiviruses make your system a bit sluggish, still the positives are there. Install a good Antivirus/Anti-malware on your system. Scan your system through it. Look for malwares or viruses. If there is any, clean them.

Lastly, you should also consider these regular issues:

• Use a secured WiFi connection.
• Avoid predatory offers from unknown sources which talk about free service or alike
• Don’t click on suspicious links (Within email) from untrusted/malicious sources.
• Disable remote access to your system is it isn’t absolutely necessary.

That’s it. Follow these conventions and minimize the risk of your webcam getting hacked by unknown persons. If you are facing similar issues feel free to bug us anytime.