Russian webcam hackers: Nothing to see here

The slightest hint of voyeurism and the news media is all over an IT security issue like an itchy rash. I'm talking about last week's story about a Russian website that was found to be streaming the live feeds of thousands of unsecured webcams from around the world. The site had been known about for a while before the BBC and others picked up on it, as word of it had already been widely circulated on social media sites long before. This wasn't the only thing that made the story old news, because the so-called hacking of webcam feeds isn't a new phenomenon. I have been writing about the risk of unsecured network cams with IP addresses since they first hit the market more than a decade ago. But why, I hear you ask, have I referred to it as "so-called hacking"?