A family in Texas was shocked and appalled recently when a hacker broke into their toddler's baby monitor and began shouting obscenities at their 2-year-old.
Marc Gilbert says that he first heard the voice of a strange man cursing and making lewd comments in his daughter's bedroom while he was washing dishes on Aug. 10. When he and wife Lauren entered the room, the voice began cursing at them as well.
"Right away I knew something was wrong," Gilbert told ABC News.
Apparently, a hacker had taken over the monitor, which was equipped with a camera. Gilbert described the creepy voice coming out of the family's baby monitor as having a British or European accent.
He and his wife heard the voice calling his daughter an "effing moron," and telling her "wake up you little slut."
The hacker then began shouting expletives at her parents and calling Gilbert a "stupid moron" and his wife a "b----h."
"At that point I ran over and disconnected it and tried to figure out what happened," said Gilbert. "[I] couldn't see the guy. All you could do was hear his voice and [that] he was controlling the camera."
Fortunately, because baby Allyson is deaf, she did not hear the voice or wake from her sleep.
After the incident, Gilbert began doing research and believes someone took control of the camera, which was on his home's wireless network. That person was able to move it around and see his daughter's name on the wall, reports Fox News.
"It's quite possible that this had been going on more than one day," he said. "Security vulnerabilities exist."
For now, Gilbert says that he will not be using the monitoring device.
"I don't think it ever will be connected again," he said. "I think we are going to go without the baby monitor now."
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