Canadian hacker arrested for spying through webcams

Federal police arrested a Canadian woman Wednesday accused of remotely taking over people's computers and spying on them using their own webcams.

The 27-year-old suspect, who allegedly leads on online hacker forum with 35,000 members worldwide, used malicious software to infect and take over others' computers, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.

She is believed to be "at the origin of a botnet, i.e. a group of computers infected by a virus and remotely controlled by a hacker," police said, declining to identify her.

From her home in Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez, Quebec, the woman allegedly eavesdropped on private conversations and communicated with victims through the speakers of their infected computers.

Police said she also "frightened her victims," including children, by taking over control of their computers and logging on to extreme pornography websites.

Police also seized control of her web forum and shut it down.

© 2015 AFP