Time To Cover Your Webcam? The Truth About “Ratters” And How They Spy On You

Have you heard of the ratters? Well, maybe it's time you covered your computer's webcam...

The ratters are so-named after the Remote Administration Tool some hackers use to spy on strangers. This is the creepy bit. Most of the time they are men watching women by using their webcams.

An in-depth report on Ars Technica details the ins and outs of the hackers' world, Consumerist.com reports.

Spies can not only sit back and watch people from thousands of miles away, but can infect computers with pornographic pop-ups and whatever else they want.

There are also forums where ratters share and post photos, information and other tidbits they've gathered from their victims, or their "slaves" as they like to call them.

“Poor people think they are alone in their private homes, but have no idea they are the laughing stock on” one of the forums, writes one user. ”It would be funny if one of these slaves venture into learning how to hack and comes across this thread.”

Most of the ratters claim they just like to watch a little bit and poke around in people's personal files, but others post lists of known slaves" that they think others might want to look at. It's the nextr level of voyeurism.

How can you prevent your computer's webcam being hacked? Using anti-malware software and running programs to detect and clean computers that do become infected can help.

In order to "hook" a "slave" and hack their computer, ratters only need you to run a file, maybe by using a file-sharing network and naming the file after a popular song or movie you might want to download.

It's common sense, but avoid anything sketchy or dodgy-looking. Don't click on weird links or download attachments from unknown sources.

To creep yourself out even further, you can read the report here...