Scams are nothing new in the digital age, yet one of of the most threatening could hit anyone watching porn, as malware can now be designed to hack your webcam and film you during those intimate moments.
You can encounter a scam pretty much anywhere on the internet, as there's a good chance you've avoided issues in your email, across social media, and even on QR codes that you see out in the wild.
Some of the most effective and frightening scam attempts though involve hackers gaining access to sensitive photos or information that you might not want shared, forcing you to pay up – often using cryptocurrency – in blackmail attempts.
Most commonly these involve intimate photos that you might have accidentally uploaded to the cloud or shared in some form, yet scam artists have discovered a new method that could expose you in an incredibly private moment.
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As reported by LADbible, hackers are now able to use a new type of malware named 'Stealerium', and this terrifying tool captures screenshots, webcam photos, and videos when you're watching porn.
It then makes the victim of the malware attack aware of these images, threatening to share it with their friends, family, and loved ones if they don't pay up in a horrifying 'sextortion' attempt.
It can also steal login credentials, banking information, and any other sensitive data by capturing your screen, making it one of the most dangerous forms of malware that you can potentially download.
According to researchers at Proofpoint, Stealerium is typically able to access your computer or device when you click on links in phishing emails, which are specifically designed to appear official and require urgency, like informing you of a payment that's due or a court summons.
The malware is then downloaded and secretly implanted onto your device as soon as the link is clicked, and you'll almost always be none the wiser until your information has already been stolen and intimate photos captured.
"When it comes to infostealers, they typically are looking for whatever they can grab," explained Selena Larson, a researcher at Proofpoint, when speaking to Wired. "This adds another layer of privacy invasion and sensitive information that you definitely wouldn't want in the hands of a particular hacker."
What's particularly dangerous when it comes to sextortion attacks is the shame that many might feel in reporting the blackmail attempt, meaning that they often feel forced to pay up as a way of keeping it under wraps at all costs.
This leaves people unwilling to go to the police and authorities, making it far more difficult for these attacks to be stopped in the future. What you can do though is make sure that you're never pressing any links that you can't verify are authentic, and if you do want to watch any private videos then it's probably best to do it with your webcam turned off.