Watching ‘Martha’: 50,000 affected by security camera privacy breach

Andrew Ramadge reports:

Thousands of people all over the world could be watching Martha* get ready for bed right now. But Martha isn’t an entertainer. She’s an elderly woman, and she almost certainly doesn’t know that the inside of her home is being broadcast on the web.

Martha – or more likely, one of her carers – was one of up to 50,000 people who bought and installed a security camera made by the US company TRENDnet before it was discovered that the live footage they captured could be watched by anyone with an internet connection, without even having to guess a password.

Since the flaw was discovered in January, some TRENDnet customers have taken steps to fix it. But many haven’t, and apparently remain unaware that the devices they installed to keep themselves safe could in fact be doing the exact opposite.