Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FBI director: Cover up your webcam

thehill.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 307 posts

Re: FBI director: Cover up your webcam

#111

Post by _Codemonkeyism »

"The head of the FBI on Wednesday defended putting a piece of tape over his personal laptop's webcam, claiming the security step was a common sense one that most should take."

One needs to ask why is the head of the FBI telling you this? Cui bono?

This is a red herring.

The FBI has no interest in filming you through your webcam.

They want to listen to your microphone, watch your screen, get the keys you've typed, see the websites you've visited, read the emails you've sent.

Watch you on video? Nah. This is a red herring.

That is the reason the head of the FBI tells you to cover your webcam.

I wish the The Last Psychiatrist would come back.

Re: FBI director: Cover up your webcam

#112

Post by janvidar »

Isn't this really just a sign of flawed hardware design?

In my opinion hardware should be designed so that the camera LED lamp should always be lit if the camera is used. If there is a malfunction with the LED, then the camera should also not work. Also there should be a hardware LED for when the microphone is being used which should work in the same fashion for laptops with built-in microphones.

In the webcam drivers I have looked at the LED is controlled independently of capturing, although drivers do enable the LED when the camera is used. This essentially means that hackers can record and disable the lamp.

I've been considering hacking together some piece of software that will continuously use the camera (/dev/video) in order to block it for other applications, and have it fail with visible alerts if unable to block the camera. Not sure if the same thing can be achieved for the audio recording devices due to multiplexing.

Re: FBI director: Cover up your webcam

#113

Post by djsumdog »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #51
Larrikin wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that what the webcam captures is probably the least important thing a hacker can get but I do it because it is visible. Protecting your privacy should NOT be weird and a sticker over your webcam is a very visible way of showing that to the public. When people ask why I do it, its a good opportunity to educate them on the capabilities of the US government, other nation-state actors, and hackers in general. If t…

I agree. It's more of a statement than a meaningful security measure.

That webcam might have a microphone. Your laptop has one too. Neither have a little LED to tell if they're on (the one on most cameras isn't hard wired to the sensor. You can sometimes turn it off in the drivers). There's a microphone in your phone, in your tablet, your PS4 controller, your land line (why do you still have one of those?!), that USB gaming headset you left plugged in, your fitbit, your overpriced voice activated IoT refrigerator (Your out of milk; here are some Amazon ads for milk), and your watch.

The potential to listen to audio on unpatched, compromised devices, is a huge attack vector! And yet we tape up cameras.

Re: FBI director: Cover up your webcam

#114

Post by josephcooney »

matt_wulfeck wrote: post #73
6t6t6t6 wrote: post #6

From all they ways I can be spied, the webcam is the one that concerns me the least. At the end, all they will see is a bearded man staring to the front. May they be able to see me naked? Well, probably, but I honestly don't think that they will make a lot of money by selling my naked pictures... My wife tells me that I still look good, but I suspect that she is being nice to me. What would scare more is that they ma…

You're displaying a common trope I see sometimes with security: > "because this particular thing does affect me personally, it doesn't matter. And because it doesn't matter to me it doesn't matter at all" Blackmailing people with pictures taken from webcams is not theoretical. It happens[0] and it's good advice to tape up your cam. It may not affect you personally, but it may affect your wife, daughter, or sister in…

All the author did was say it wasn't a concern for them. Nowhere did they say it didn't matter.

Re: FBI director: Cover up your webcam

#115

Post by atheg33 »

jasoncchild wrote: post #83
Larrikin wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that what the webcam captures is probably the least important thing a hacker can get but I do it because it is visible. Protecting your privacy should NOT be weird and a sticker over your webcam is a very visible way of showing that to the public. When people ask why I do it, its a good opportunity to educate them on the capabilities of the US government, other nation-state actors, and hackers in general. If t…

Why does everyone strip down in front of thier computers? When I'm done using my laptop I close it.

> Why does everyone strip down in front of thier computers?

Personally, I only use my laptop when I am away from my office. And my office happens to be my bedroom.

Re: FBI director: Cover up your webcam

#117

Post by akerro »

6t6t6t6 wrote: post #6

From all they ways I can be spied, the webcam is the one that concerns me the least. At the end, all they will see is a bearded man staring to the front. May they be able to see me naked? Well, probably, but I honestly don't think that they will make a lot of money by selling my naked pictures... My wife tells me that I still look good, but I suspect that she is being nice to me. What would scare more is that they ma…

1. Use Facebook

2. Use DropBox

3. Use Skype

4. Use Google services, always logged in

5. Use Windows 10

6. Use Google Chrome

7. Tape webcam ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: FBI director: Cover up your webcam

#118

Post by jevinskie »

Steuard wrote: post #39
dingo_bat wrote: post #3

I have never covered my Webcam because I trust the light to come on if the camera turns on. Is it possible to bypass that led?

In addition to the attacks that others have mentioned here, I've also heard folks comment previously on the possibility of turning on the camera very briefly, just long enough for a single still shot. If it was done fast enough, the brief flicker of the LED might not be noticeable. (Like you, I had always assumed that the power for the webcam was literally in series with the LED, so that disabling the LED would rende…

Maybe you could add a capacitor to keep the LED going for a bit longer after the power cuts. The power off dimming might be aesthetically pleasing too.

Re: FBI director: Cover up your webcam

#119

Post by xcasperx »

I agree with what most people are saying on here, but I believe there's a bigger picture to it.

Let's say that your computer has been completely 'pwned', and that you are currently reading an article with an ad for Cow Porn, or whatever, on the right hand hand side of the site. The hacker can write some code to check what your eyes, and eyebrows, did when you looked at the ad. If it peaked your interest, the hacker can maliciously add more 'Cow Porn' ads to sites you visit - via swapping out the regular ones.

Now one day you get curious and click on it, and boom they take a screen shot and try to blackmail you.

This is obviously quite outlandish but think about purposefully planting posts, lets say on reddit, by switching out posts. They then look at your head movements, and, or, eye movements then boom, you're added to some list that you wouldn't have be added to if it weren't for your eye movements.

Re: FBI director: Cover up your webcam

#120

Post by lostlogin »

mschuetz wrote: post #110
matt_wulfeck wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're displaying a common trope I see sometimes with security: > "because this particular thing does affect me personally, it doesn't matter. And because it doesn't matter to me it doesn't matter at all" Blackmailing people with pictures taken from webcams is not theoretical. It happens[0] and it's good advice to tape up your cam. It may not affect you personally, but it may affect your wife, daughter, or sister in…

> "This particular thing doesn't matter because I don't need it. And because I don't need it, nobody needs it at all" This is all that I hate about stackoverflow.

You don't know SO rage until you get a case of a small, inconsequential problem which is of vital importance to you. After heaps of searching someone else has posted the same issue on SO. Then reposted a while later with "Don't worry, fixed".
Post reply on HN