Photo: VCG
Chinese cybersecurity firm Qihoo 360 has added a new feature to its popular mobile internet security software to fight a wave of voyeuristic “spycams” that have made headlines out of a number of peeping toms over the past several months.
The addition to the company’s “360 Phone Guardian” app allows smartphones to detect hidden cameras hooked up to the same wireless network at hotels and public places to prevent users from being secretly recorded, according to a post on the app’s official Weibo microblog.
“The function analyzes the ways in which cameras connect to the internet and communicate information, allowing it to effectively determine whether common types of suspicious recording equipment are connected to the same Wi-Fi network,” thereby protecting personal privacy, the post said.
Qihoo is not the first app-maker to target hidden cameras. On Tuesday, internet giant Baidu announced that its smartphone privacy app, Baidu Phone Guardian, had added an anti-spycam function that uses similar technology to Qihoo.
In June, a middle-aged man was apprehended by police in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou for installing pinhole cameras in several hotel rooms, one of a string of recent crimes that have raised questions about personal privacy.
Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com)
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