A former employee of the ADT security company admitted that he broke into the cameras he installed in user homes in the Dallas area to look at their private moments. Telesforo Aviles has pleaded guilty to computer fraud and is now serving up to five years in federal prison. According to the Department of Justice, Aviles conceded that he would take note of the homes of women he found attractive to report to their accounts and see their cameras for sexual gratification.
He was able to obtain customer footage by adding his email addresses to their “ADT Pulse” accounts. Aviles sometimes added his address without their knowledge, although he also sometimes said he needed temporary access to their accounts for testing purposes. In his pleadings, he said that in the course of four and a half years, he had obtained more than 9,600 times more than 200 customer accounts. He also admitted that he watched video feeds of naked women and couples engaging in sexual activity.
Matthew J. DeSarno, special agent of the FBI, Dallas, said in a statement:
‘The accused used his position to illegally violate the privacy of many people. The FBI works with our law enforcement partners to thoroughly investigate all cyberbullying and hold criminals accountable for their actions. Cyberbullying affects not only businesses but also members of the public. We encourage everyone to practice cyber hygiene with all their connected devices by reviewing authorized users and changing passwords regularly. If you are the victim of a cybercrime, contact the FBI via ic3.gov or 1-800-CALL FBI. ”
ADT has updated a page on the situation in recent months. In its first statement of April, the company said a customer had notified him of an unauthorized email on their account. ‘As soon as we discovered this, the unauthorized access was revoked and the employee was terminated. We also reported him to law enforcement, “ADT wrote at the time.
As Ars Technica remarks, ADT is now dealing with several lawsuits over which case, one of which was a proposed class action lawsuit on behalf of minors living in the homes that Aviles hacked into. BuzzFeed News also reports that the plaintiffs in three lawsuits said that ADT tried to offer confidentiality agreements when they were notified of the security breach.