We use them to keep an eye on our homes, pets, babies and businesses. But there’s a sinister side to the humble home security camera.

We’ve never been more connected, but that also makes us vulnerable to criminals looking to exploit our most intimate moments.

Just this week, authorities in South Korea arrested four people for allegedly hacking into more than 120,000 cameras in homes and businesses. Police say they targeted karaoke rooms, a Pilates studio, and even a gynaecologist’s clinic, using the footage to make sexually exploitative material for an overseas website.

One of the suspects is accused of hacking 63,000 cameras and producing 545 sexually exploitative videos, which he then sold for $36,000.

A timely reminder that, in this day and age, surveillance cameras intended to keep us safe can also be used to compromise our private life.