Mom shocked after webcam in children's bedroom hacked, streamed online

HOUSTON — A Texas mom is warning parents after she learned that a webcam in her 8-year-old daughters' bedroom had been hacked and streamed online.

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According to KTRK, the Houston woman, identified only as Jennifer, found out about the live stream this week after a photo of the girls' room circulated on social media.

Shelby Ivie, a fellow mother from Oregon, discovered the stream while using an app called Webcams Viewer. She took a screen grab of the video and shared it on Facebook to find the family and warn them.

"I basically spent my entire Sunday at home sharing it to every Houston page I could think of," Ivie told KTRK. "I shared it on several news sites. I shared it to a bunch of Houston moms/Texas groups in hopes that social media would take it from there."

Ivie's efforts paid off: One of Jennifer's friends saw the post.

"I happened to get a text from a friend of mine that said she saw a picture on Facebook, and she thought it was a picture of our daughters' room," Jennifer told KTRK.

She was horrified.

"We have security cameras to protect them," Jennifer told ABC News. "I feel like I've failed. ... People are watching my kids in their home, dressing, sleeping, playing."

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Jennifer said a security company told her that the hack likely occurred after one of her daughters connected to an unprotected server to play "Minecraft," a computer game.

The girls are no longer allowed to use the internet, Jennifer said.

"Nowadays, everyone wants to play with people they don't know," Jennifer told ABC News. "You don't know who these people are. You also don't know if these servers are protected. ... Always watch to see what your kids are doing."

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