Micro Snitch – Know when someone spies on you

>If you stop for a minute to think about it, it's a very sad state of affairs that you need to buy a closed-source app for the most secure consumer operating system, and pay constant attention to its status, in hope to avoid (or detect) spying.

Emphasis added, because of course you don't need to, and most people don't. Apple themselves have been working at it and Mojave contains a bunch of new restrictions and brings more visibility to what software wants what. It's much more feasible now for users to simply prevent most (or all) standard software from accessing the camera or mic entirely. Someone could be very cautious about what they install and stick to more heavily controlled and sandboxed major name stuff from the MAS (even though I personally think the MAS is a huge disappointment and waste of potential still). Running software in a VM is another option for power users. And for that matter if you don't actually use the camera much/ever (likely true for many on HN) you could simply physically block it with an opaque black sticker, or even drill it out and stick some black epoxy in there or similar.

Ultimately this is just another possible layer and UX. If anything it is probably of most value to power users who want to run software from anywhere and in turn would like to have additional tools to handle some of the vetting and watching that Apple might do for general users with light needs. That's like Little Snitch too, I find it absolutely invaluable, but I also have the basic systems and networking knowledge for it to mean something to me. For end users I help it's of no direct use because it all might as well be in another language, they don't have the knowledge or metaknowledge, it's only any good in terms of providing an administrator willing to take an active hand in things occasionally another way to help lock systems down.

I do hope for Apple to continue their trend of privacy focus, for example they could make camera access more nuanced (like only if it has user focus). But I have more faith in their ability to make that functional for general end user contexts then in many server secure focused OS. To your point:

>(works flawlessly with Thinkpad's hardware (minus bluetooth and -finger scanner-) and...

But biometrics are incredibly value for general mobile usage security. Shoulder surfing these days should probably be considered the rule not the exception given the growing ubiquity of networked cameras everywhere and the data storage capacity and ML to handle their data. It's much easier to passively mass vacuum PINs or passwords then good biometrics right now where you can't ensure any physical security. OpenBSD does support HSMs which would help, though it's another thing to keep on hand as well. And of course there is the time factor of a good password vs biometric entry which discourages many people from using good passwords.

You can argue it's not a fair comparison, 15" Macbook Pros have a 6-core CPUs and a standalone GPU, and a 13-inch Macbook Pro with 8th-gen Intel core i5 and 16GB (which can be configured at $1,999 before tax) is a better one - either way Thinkpad is a better deal, and it's a very light laptop (only ~2 lbs).

> Emphasis added, because of course you don't need to, and most people don't. Apple themselves have been working at it and Mojave contains a bunch of new restrictions and brings more visibility to what software wants what.

That's a good point. It is interesting, still, that someone took time to build an app like that - maybe its perception vs. reality, but I have seen a lot of coverage on how various spyware can use your cam without you knowing. Good that Apple is improving the security of the default system.

> And for that matter if you don't actually use the camera much/ever (likely true for many on HN) you could simply physically block it with an opaque black sticker, or even drill it out and stick some black epoxy in there or similar.

For what it worth, Thinkpad's new laptop (and the one I bought) have a built-in webcam cover, called ThinkShutter.

> But biometrics are incredibly value for general mobile usage security.

Agree - and I'm researching use of YubiKey (or something similar with proven security model) as a 2nd factor w/ OpenBSD, as I think it has a better security model vs. closed-source fingerprint scanner.

That's a questionable approach you took, since Lenovo has been caught in the past shipping laptops with spyware. I actually bought the same Thinkpad a few months ago (beautiful machine btw), but I had to return it as I couldn't get myself to trust a computer manufactured by a dishonest company, in an authoritarian country. It felt just so uncomfortable.

At the end of the day, I still trust Apple the most, since they have a huge reputation they need to maintain, although I recognize it's not an optimal solution, as they might very well have weaknesses in their supply chain, or become dishonest at the request of some higher authority.

On a related note, it appears we don't live in the era of personal computers anymore, but rather personal interfaces. Most people are comfortable getting a mobile interface they control, while the computation and storage of their data is performed by somebody else.

this one is free, has similar functionality (no association with the developer): https://objective-see.com/products/oversight.html