Webcam 'Peeping Tom' watched women across the world having sex
Telegraph reporterssg.style.yahoo.com
A father-of-three who hacked into hundreds of webcams across the world so he could spy on women undressing and having sex is facing jail.
Christopher Taylor, 60, tricked 772 people in 39 different countries into relinquishing control of their webcams so he could monitor their private lives.
Police believe that among the hundreds of people targeted in a three-year period, 47 unwitting women were secretly watched by Taylor as they shared intimate moments with their partners.
The married father watched from his laptop at his £170,000 semi detached home in Abram, Wigan, Greater Manchester.
He was caught after administrators at Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, alerted the FBI when the malware was found on the laptop of a student at the American university's aerospace laboratory.
'It’s just what I’ve been meddling with on the computer'
When police raided his home in 2016, Taylor, a full-time carer for his wife, said: “It’s just what I’ve been meddling with on the computer.”Inquiries found he had also amassed a cache of 80,000 images and videos dating from between August 2012 and July 2015. Added to this were 82 bestiality related images and videos.
The investigation also found that Taylor had deleted thousands of files before his arrest.
He had lured in his victims with a fake link he placed on porn sites, which, when clicked, would allow him full access to their laptop’s function, a court heard.
At Bolton Crown Court, Taylor admitted securing unauthorised access to computer material, voyeurism and possession of extreme pornography.
He is set to be sentenced on Tuesday, with the maximum sentence he could face being two years.
American law enforcement officials had asked for him to be extradited to the US to face trial for wire fraud and computer fraud but their request was turned down after a court ruled it would "negatively impact" his wife.
Greater Manchester Police only brought charges against Taylor at the end of last year, nearly seven years after the initial investigation.
Fake links on porn sites
Neil Fryman, prosecuting, said: “In 2010, the defendant became active on hackforums.com and became interested in malware viruses. He downloaded these malware viruses and learnt how to spread them onto pornography websites.''He used torrent files to upload the malware onto various websites and disguise it as another link for a program called Cammy, which was described as all-in-one camera alarm system. Individuals were invited to click the link, thinking they were going to view porn. Once they had done so, the defendant gained access to their laptop features, including their webcam. He hid his online identity using obfuscation software, making him hard to track.
“The defendant stored over 80,000 images and videos from over 770 different individuals, all of which were taken without consent. The defendant’s victims came from over 39 different countries, including the USA.
''He had many more thousands of files saved on his computer that had never been downloaded. Many of these images and videos captured people eating, working, lying in bed and doing yoga. However, there were also a number of images that showed people in various stages of undress and involved in sexual activity.
"In total, 47 victims were pictured engaging in sexual activity.
“In January 2012, the defendant began to search more explicit sites to hide the malware on ... a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, unwittingly downloaded the malware and their laptop into the college’s aerospace laboratory.
"The malware was flagged by the colleges sophisticated spyware systems and alerted the FBI, who started a the first formal investigation. This lead to a search warrant being issued on his home on Vicarage Road, Wigan on the 12th of February 2016."
A 'very odd interest'
In mitigation for Taylor, Andrew Jebb said: “He still struggles to provide an obvious answer as to why all of this began."Hacking on this scale is a very odd interest for any man to have but it merely started out as an interest in viruses before it developed into something more sinister."
Previously Taylor, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, had claimed he not used the malware for sexual gratification or targeted anyone in particular, but had an "obsessive interest in computers and hacking".
He was said to have became "fascinated" by the idea that he would be able to see through other people's webcams - describing it as an "addiction".
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