Lisa Vaas looked at the very creepy market for hacked webcams:

• Hackers have figured out how to remotely activate computer webcams and monitor individuals who are unaware their cameras are compromised.
• A black market exists where access to the webcam of a female’s computer costs $1. Or one could take control of the webcams of 100 males for the same amount.
• Aspiring entrepreneurs can easily make a return on their investment by using the embarrassing photos taken by the webcam to blackmail individuals.
• Last year several MacBooks were compromised – the hacker would convince girls to take the computer into the shower by popping up an error message stating that the device’s internal sensors had to be cleaned by putting it “near hot steam for several minutes”.
• For the most part though losing control of your webcam is rare, is almost always prevented by anti-virus programs, and requires the user to actively be tricked.

Read more about how the hacks work, how to ensure your camera isn’t compromised, and more over here.

Source: Naked Security