World ogles your privacy as unsecured web cameras live stream unguarded moments Web cams live streaming homes and businesses to the world without owners even knowing. A FAMILY relaxes in their loungeroom. A toddler runs around the house, giggling, with her mother close behind. A couple pay a bill. A receptionist surfs the web. What they don't know is their every move is being broadcast live across the internet to anyone with a web connection. Unsuspecting Australian families are being monitored by security devices with no password protection, leaving victims totally unaware of who could be watching them through the same video feeds they depend on for their own safety. In one case, the publicly available video from a young family's security system also included full audio of their movements and conversations around the home. Businesses across Australia have also been left exposed, as cameras installed for their own security stream uninterrupted footage of their customers and employees across the internet. Police and cyber security experts have issued warnings after the chilling discovery, concerned the privacy breaches could be used by paedophiles or to commit fraud, extortion and identity theft. One website, taken offline after inquiries from The Sunday Mail, collected around 9000 feeds and featured streams from Australia including a skate park and behind-the-scenes footage of businesses, warehouses and what appeared to be a medical reception area in Queensland. Another feed, discovered through a search engine for internet-connected devices, displays a Sydney family's loungeroom and updates live. A similar unprotected stream monitors the home of a family with a young child. One unprotected security feed from a Wagga Wagga restaurant features video from 10 cameras covering almost every inch of the kitchen, bar and dining room. A staff member said they did not believe the video was publicly available even as The Sunday Mail watched her speaking on the phone. Web cams live stream homes and businesses to the world without even knowing it. Security Consultants International principal consultant Daniel Paul said victims were exposed to "massive risks" like identity theft and fraud. "It's a common problem for people who don't know what they are installing," he said. Images from compromised webcams have been used by criminals to try and extort money from unsuspecting web users, including a recent case involving a 15-year-old on the Sunshine Coast. AusCERT co-ordination centre manager Mike Holm said the unprotected live streams could be turned into a criminal attack. "Once you've got a visual you've got vast amounts of avenues you can go down," he said. But he said users of the websites were not breaking the law, because the feeds were publicly available even if the cameras' owners weren't aware of it. "The people who have been victimised may not have much legal recourse," he said. British security expert Adrian Hayter said he compiled the 9000-feed website to alert people to the dangers of having unsecured, password-free devices, and last month it had received 3.5 million page views. "You'll find a lot that are pointed at employees or swooping back and forth over factories . . . the more deadly or dangerous ones are the ones actually inside people's houses," he said. The reason I made it public was to try to get the momentum going for people to shut them down. He said he also found cameras pointed at children and babies in their bedroom, and although he had taken them off his own site they were "most likely" still online on the now defunct site. Mr Hayter, whose job involves exposing security flaws in company IT systems, said all the camera feeds on his site were totally password-free. Many more online video feeds can be illegally hacked using simple default passwords that users have neglected to change. Queensland University of Technology emeritus professor in information security Bill Caelli called the issue a "major security breach" and said government needed to legislate to force retailers selling such devices to make them "secure by default." Governments expect that the average home user is an expert in security, and that's downright stupid. A Queensland police spokesman said viewing such feeds may not be illegal but information gathered could be used for criminal acts and internet users needed to make sure their devices had strong passwords. A spokesman for the federal Attorney-General's department said it was unlikely a person accessing a site that features webcam streams would be committing an offence.