A 45-year-old man from Cyprus was arrested Monday on sexual harassment charges after allegedly hacking into a webcam in order to take illicit pictures of a young woman in her bedroom, the Cyprus Mail reports.

The unnamed suspect, a computer technician from Nicosia, Cyprus, is alleged to have spied on the 17-year-old girl through her webcam after infecting her PC with an unspecified Trojan horse. He allegedly took footage of the teenager while she was alone in her bedroom before threatening to send the illicit content to her email contacts unless she stood naked in front of the webcam. The girl refused and contacted the police.

Anti-virus firm Sophos said the last 12 months have been accompanied by a dramatic rise in forms of malicious code designed to spy on unsuspecting computer users. Viruses, worms and Trojan horses with spying capabilities have risen from five to 15 new instances per day or just under half of the average of around 35 new forms of malicious codes Sophos spots daily. Virtually every new instance of the Rbot internet worm, for example, includes the capability to take photos and movies of unsuspecting computer users.

Users are advised to use personal firewalls and anti-virus defences to defend against infection. At the very least unplugging the USB connection of a webcam when it's not in use would be a good idea. ®

Related stories

Meet the Peeping Tom worm
Webcam Trojan suspect arrested in Spain
Webcam Trojan perv gets slapped wrist