Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf has described how she was in ‘tears and shock’ after she found out that a hacker had installed malware on her computer that had secretly recorded her naked on her webcam.

The hacker listened in to her private conversations and captured images of her changing clothes in the supposed privacy of her own bedroom by using installing malware called Blackshades Remote Access Tool, which can be bought online for $40, on her computer without her knowledge.

Wolf only found out about the invasion of her privacy after she received an email from the hacker, where he attached three nude images of her and threatened to publish them publicly online if she did not follow his orders.

When she got the email, she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper:

“[My mom] and I were in tears and in shock…We couldn’t believe that this really could happen.”

She continued:

“To think that someone was watching me in my bedroom for a year and had all my most intimate moments, he had conversations I had had with my mom and my brother, and knew everything about my life — someone can have access to all of that by your computer.”

They contacted police over the incident, and the hacker was identified as one of Wolf’s former classmates.

Wolf advised others to put tape over the webcam on their laptops and to keep a close eye on how their computers were running to try and protect their privacy online.

An estimated 500,000 people are believed to have been victims of so-called “creepware”, with police around the world recently making 97 arrests in connection with Blackshades malware, including 17 in the UK.