191–200 of 307 posts
Every electronic communication device (laptop, mobile, tablet, etc) should have 1 hardware switch per sensor (camera, mic, motion/acceleration, etc) which disables the sensor. Why manufacturers still haven't introduced this is beyond me.
Here's a linux-running laptop that has 2 hardware switches: https://puri.sm/librem-13
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The issue is the camera being used to violate your privacy. A hardware switch that lets you physically disable the camera, or a a lens cover that stops it seeing anything, stops the possibility of that happening completely. You'd obviously need a second system in order to stop an attacker using your microphone. All a light does is inform you that the camera is active. That is not a defence. It doesn't tell you that y…
I really don't understand this reasoning at all. If you just block the camera you won't know that your computer is being hacked. The piece of tape isn't going to stop the hacker from doing much. Knowing my computer is hacked is far more important than stopping the attackers from seeing me. If you have a false positive that is also very concerning and should be dealt with. At the very least I can put a piece of tape o…
At which point it's already too late - the hacker has had access to your camera for some period of time, until you notice the light. If you're interested in stopping people seeing you then you've failed. Putting a hardware block on the camera (eg tape) before you're hacked means that the hacker won't ever get access to your camera to see you.
The hardware block is about stopping people accessing your camera. It has no effect on anything else.
Regardless of what you do with your camera you still have to defend against other ways you can be hacked.
Every electronic communication device (laptop, mobile, tablet, etc) should have 1 hardware switch per sensor (camera, mic, motion/acceleration, etc) which disables the sensor. Why manufacturers still haven't introduced this is beyond me.
Expense and lack of demand.
Some older laptops used to feature hardware kill switches for the wifi (this was prior to the advent of a camera in every laptop). The old Dell D820 model was one such laptop. Eventually they were dropped all around because from the makers point of view, the presence of the switch had no effect on the sales of the laptops.
Anything you add to the BOM (Bill of Materials) for the device raises the final net cost, and there is still enough competition in the laptop/phone space that keeping the costs down is necessary to compete. Additionally, twenty-five cents per unit does not sound like much, until of course you multiply that by 10+ million units built (where a twenty-five cents difference per unit amounts to $2.5+ million difference in the end). So if having the switch or not having the switch made no difference in sales, the maker could either raise their profit, or lower their price (or more likely split the difference) by dropping the switches.
The lack of demand is that not enough purchasers are telling manufacturers they want hardware on/off switches (the purchasers do this by buying only laptops with them, and by not buying laptops without them [which may be difficult to bootstrap now, given that almost no laptop has a hardware on/off switch anymore]).
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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…
> its a good opportunity to educate them Am I the only one to receive disarming responses when trying to educate anybody over this matter? The vast majority of people (and when I say "vast majority" I mean everybody but two or three people tops, so far) I tried to explain things to don't care. All they have to say are things like "Where is your tinfoil hat?", "This is conspiracy theory", "If they want to spy us there…
The best comeback to this is usually asking if they have drapes/shades for their windows at home. I think I read that in a CCC guide to talking about privacy/security somewhere. At least that has lead to somewhat interesting discussions and the occasional moment of "you might have a point".
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Have you a source for that? My experience of laptop webcams is that they need at least a second or two after power on to initialize the camera. That'd be pretty noticeable if you're using the machine, at least.
I do! DEF CON 23 - Ken Westin - Confessions of a Professional Cyber Stalker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyel1gfSjl4 Specifically around the 18:00 mark. Also he does provide source examples that you can ruin your computer with if you want. He gets into a lot of it, but shows quite a few examples including what I'm talking about. The people that he catches aren't necessarily savvy, but he does talk about taking pic…
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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…
Completely this. As someone who was profiled and eventually experienced an attempted-blackmailed by a company in India (employer details gained among other things) - everything seems inconsequential ("I've done nothing wrong"), until it is used, abused (and lies added to) to threaten you. It doesn't matter whether things are true or not. What matters is, when someone gains details about you, the story and lies they c…
in this day and age how come we don't see laptops carry a physical on/off switch for the microphone and camera?
Gradually they were dropped from newer models because the manufacturers saw no sales changes due to the presence/absence of the switches (i.e., not enough purchasers refused to buy the "new" laptop because it dropped the physical on/off switch, which is the only feedback the makers truly understand and pay attention towards).
And dropping the physical switch saved the manufacturer a small amount on each laptop, which when multiplied across the numbers built was either a nice profit increase or a small price reduction (or likely a little of both).
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Completely this. As someone who was profiled and eventually experienced an attempted-blackmailed by a company in India (employer details gained among other things) - everything seems inconsequential ("I've done nothing wrong"), until it is used, abused (and lies added to) to threaten you. It doesn't matter whether things are true or not. What matters is, when someone gains details about you, the story and lies they c…
Would you mind sharing any more details about the attempted blackmail?
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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 voic…
We never used to tape up cameras, now we do. Perhaps one day we will cover microphones or disable them even though we don't now.