Perhaps there is finally something to deter Chatroulette.com users from their more offensive behavior: University researchers say that users of the popular video-chat site may not be as anonymous, or as private, as they think.
In a paper posted online this week, researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder and McGill University outline three different types of attacks that could be launched against Chatroulette users.

Founded just last year by 17-year-old Russian entrepreneur Andrey Ternovskiy, Chatroulette links Web surfers randomly into one-on-one video chat conversations. The site has come under fire, however, because of nudity and inappropriate behavior.

The new research doesn't expose any gaping privacy holes, but it does show how the service could be misused by determined criminals. For example, researchers describe a type of video phishing attack, where the criminals would simply play a video of an attractive woman who appears to be chatting with the victim, with audio disabled.

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