monitorsAsk any IT professional about security and you can almost always prepare yourself for a story or three about people using strongly encrypted passwords such as ‘password’ or ‘admin’.  Or if it is a particularly good day, helping people understand that encrypted functions exist…  Here is story from CBC.ca about how fallible people actually are when it comes to all this new fangled technology.

“Insecam.com, a new website, is broadcasting online private security camera footage from thousands of spots across Canada — all without the knowledge of the people who own and operate the cameras.

Insecam.com has feeds from internet protocol cameras (or IP cameras) all over the world.

“This is one of a series of websites that have been around for a while that basically go through and troll the internet for open ports,” said Tod Maffin, a tech columnist based in Vancouver. “Until fairly recently that information was just kind of held for people’s own curiosity, but now, as we’re seeing, this site and other ones as well are posting their findings.”

It is fairly amazing, you can spy on people across the world. Most are fairly uninteresting; parking garages and the like, but a couple are in residential areas and stuff. Crazy.

“Many of these cameras come with default passwords to access the footage on a website while you’re away — and often people fail to change them.

That’s where Insecam comes in. The site accesses the feeds using default passwords and broadcasts them.

CBC News watched several feeds from various locations in Winnipeg on Friday, including a car insurance sales office, a candy store, a tattoo parlour and others aimed at people’s front doors, backyards and properties.”

A word to the wise when it comes to technology. RTFM. (Read the Flippn’ Manual)  Oh, and use a difficult to guess password.