They disseminated online private life images stolen from surveillance cameras installed in homes and stores, and resold access credentials (username and password) online to unsuspecting users, often caught in their most intimate moments. This is what emerged from an investigation by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, which led to the conviction, under an abbreviated procedure, of five IT experts from large companies, some of them installers of home automation systems. The sentences, handed down by Judge Cristian Mariani, range from two and a half to three and a half years in prison, which have already been reduced by a third thanks to the choice of abbreviated trial. The crimes charged by prosecutor Giovanni Tarzia are criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession and dissemination of computer system access codes. According to the reconstructions, the criminal scheme consisted of several stages. In the first stage, automated software scanned the network for online connected cameras protected by weak or never updated credentials. Once access was gained, images were categorized (private homes, stores, swimming pools) according to content and potential interest. The final step was via a private chat on VKontakte, a popular Russian social networking site, where login credentials were “showcased”. Passwords were exchanged or sold at derisory prices, a sign of the vastness of the material available: 50 logins for 10 euros. A paradoxical aspect of the investigation was also pointed out by the daily newspaper Il Corriere della Sera: the absence of the victims in the courtroom, unaware of the violation of their privacy, made some crimes, such as abusive access to computer systems (Art. 615 ter), which requires a lawsuit by the injured party, improbable.