A university student has revealed how she was spied on by hackers while she was in the bath. English student Rachel Hyndman was using her laptop to watch a DVD in her bathroom when she noticed her webcam suddenly turned itself on.

Miss Hyndman, 20, from Glasgow, said: ‘I was in the bath, trying to relax, and then programs on my computer came on like a ghost was using it. I couldn’t regain control of it.

‘It was terrifying to think people had been looking at me without me knowing. I wondered how often they had done it without me realizing. The thought someone had access to me in this private moment is horrifying.’

Miss Hyndman, who also works in a computer shop, said she considered going to the police but feared they would laugh at her.

Called ‘ratting’, hackers can send out an internet virus that allows them access to a person’s desktop computer or laptop without their knowledge. They can then switch on the webcam – built in to most new computers – and watch people in the privacy of their living rooms and bedrooms without them realizing they are being closely observed.

A webcam is a video camera that feeds images in ‘real time’ to another computer, computer network or the internet.

A BBC Radio 5 Live investigation found the illegal practice is now so prevalent there is even a profitable underground market selling the ability to watch victims, who are dubbed ‘slaves’, for a few pounds.

More worryingly, pedophiles are using the technique to target youngsters – mainly girls – who have computers in their bedrooms.

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