German man arrested for webcam spying

German police have accused a man of using a Trojan to hack into more than 150 webcams

A German man has been arrested on charges of using malware to spy on young women using their webcams.

The man is alleged to have used a Trojan to infect a victim's account via ICQ, a spokesman for the Aachen state prosecutor told the local Westfalenblatt newspaper.

He then used this account to find another 150 victims, according to police estimates.

The investigation was triggered when Thomas Floß, from the German association of data protection advisers, was giving school lectures about staying safe online.

"I became suspicious when, from February, increasing numbers of girls expressed the suspicion that this was happening to them," he said.

Floß examined one of the computers and found that it had been infected with a Trojan. The malware controller was tracked back and, when police arrived at the man's address, he was found to have several feeds running at the time.

The problem is widespread, according to Floß. "I have visited 50 to 60 schools, and every time at least one schoolgirl tells me they have a problem [with webcams not switching off]," he said.