The Sun, Travel News
I’m an ex-hacker and here’s how to spot hidden cameras in your holiday home
Jan
A FORMER hacker has revealed how to spot hidden cameras in your holiday home.
Next time you spend the night away, you might want to follow his advice to make sure you’re not being filmed in secret.
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Holiday rentals and Airbnbs have become a staple for British holidaymakers looking for a minibreak.
But there have been countless horror stories from guests who have discovered a hidden camera in the accommodation they are staying in.
Ex-hacker and cybersecurity teacher Marcus Hutchins shared a Tiktok video explaining how guests can do a thorough search of their holiday rental to make sure there aren’t any hidden cameras.
He said: “So here’s how to spot hidden cameras in an Airbnb or hotel.
“Now the first thing you’re going to want to look for is devices that are conveniently placed where a creeper would want to look.
“One way to see if a device is a camera is to shine a bright light at it. If you hit a camera lens it’s going to give a blueish reflection. You can test this by shining a light at your phone and seeing how the camera looks when placed under a flashlight.”
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He then walked over to a mirrored alarm clock, and said: “Now this clock is mirrored, but if we shine a bright light at it we can see through the glass and see there’s a camera there.
“Now this technique can also work on two way mirrors.”
He moved the camera to show the wire plugging the alarm clock into the wall.
He said: “So the camera is USB powered and the wall charger it’s plugged into is actually also a camera. If we shine the light on it you can see that little pinhole in the middle with the blue reflection – that is the camera lens.
“Night vision cameras use infrared LEDs to see, and if we turn off the lights and use the front facing phone camera we can actually see these LEDs.
“Now the front facing camera is the only one that tends to work because the back facing one has an IR (infrared) filter.
“You can sort of see the infrared LEDs on this clock already, but if we cover up the main LED we can actually see them a lot better.
“Camera lenses are very small so they can be hidden in anything – even a hole in the wall.
“So you’re going to want to check any suspicious devices or holes that are facing the shower, dressing area or the bed.”
The video has been watched 33m times, and viewers were shocked to discover the many ways cameras can be hidden in a holiday rental.
One person wrote: “Omg. I’m totally paranoid now.”
Another put: “I unlocked a new fear I didn’t know I had.”
Someone else revealed that they had found a hidden camera while staying in a holiday rental.
They wrote: “My friends and I got one once and found a camera in the centre of the two hands of the clock on the wall. I am sure there were more.”
An Airbnb guest found a surveillance camera inside his rented apartment and was told he ‘consented’ to it as it appeared in photos of the property.
Horrified Airbnb guests found ‘Peeping Tom-style spy cameras’ hidden in their holiday rentals.
A shocked couple found a spy camera hidden in a clock while staying in an Airbnb flat.
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