A couple in Houston, Tex. heard strange sounds coming from the baby monitor in their 2-year old daughter's nursery, and were shocked and horrified to find that the monitor had been taken over by a virtual intruder: a hacker who was yelling expletives at their baby girl and even using her name.
Marc Gilbert was doing the dishes when he heard the noises coming from Allyson's bedroom, and when he went to investigate, he heard a stranger's voice calling his daughter a "little sl*t" and an "f'ing moron," even using her name in the verbal attacks as it was spelled out in the headboard decoration above her crib. The baby monitor was equipped with a camera, giving the hacker visual access to his daughter's room.
"He said, 'Wake up Allyson, you little s**t,'" Gilbert told ABC News, describing the virtual intruder's voice as having a British or European accent. When he and his wife were in view of the monitor, the hacker then began yelling expletives at them as well as the monitor's camera moved towards them, the stranger 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."
Luckily, baby Allyson did not hear the assault, as she is deaf. "It's somewhat of a blessing," Gilbert told ABC News of her hearing impairment. "If she had heard it it would have been a big problem."
The incident, which occurred on Aug. 10, was not reported by Gilbert or his wife to the police, though the couple are still shaken up, wary to provide ABC News or any other news outlet with photographs of their children for fear of their privacy being further scrutinized. Gilbert called his internet security provider, who advised him to check the device's passwords, but a spooked Gilbert is leaving the baby monitor unplugged for good.
"I don't think it ever will be connected again," he said. "I think we are going to go without the baby monitor now."
Gilbert told ABC News that he hopes his story will inform other parents of potential virtual intrusions through their baby monitors.
