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Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera

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Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera

#361

Post by matwood »

Spooky23 wrote: post #249
alunchbox wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a reason Zukerberg's laptop has its mic and camera tapped up. It doesn't matter what device you use unless there's a physical switch to disconnect it'll never be safe. Software can ALWAYS have zero days, just because it hasn't been exploited yet doesn't mean it can't be.

Zuckerberg is probably compromised by multiple nation states in some way at any time. It’s a very different threat than most people have.

Nation states compromising Zuckerberg come in the front door and shake his hand.

Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera

#362

Post by rcfox »

hanniabu wrote: post #147
ashtonkem wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With regard to privacy, the microphone is 100x more sensitive than the camera most of the time, and it’s much harder to secure.

Mic-Lock: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KRC3G7R/

Support for this kind of thing is entirely voluntary. You can short the mic pin to ground (or connect an external mic), and it will disable the onboard mic by default because that's what is expected, but there's nothing physically stopping the audio controller from reading from the onboard mic anyway.

Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera

#363

Post by jachee »

iso947 wrote: post #353
jachee wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as you maintain physical possession of your machine, point 3 is moot, at least on Macs.

I leave my laptop in my hotel room while I go out for dinner, so point 3 is valid.

If I'm going to dinner where I can't take my backpack, I put mine in the safe.

Can recommend. Physical security > *.

Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera

#364

Post by etaioinshrdlu »

shhsshs wrote: post #269
XCSme wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, pretty unlikely, but what if the LED dies? :)

I’m not an electrical engineer so forgive me if this is a dumb question. Is it possible to wire it in such a way where the power actually travels through the LED, so if the LED ever stopped functioning or lost connection the webcam would literally receive no power?

Yes it's possible, as LEDs are indeed diodes, but done naively it would be a very bright LED, and it would tend to flicker as the current draw from the camera varies. It would be a hassle in general.

The LED could still always fail short, and then you're back to having a broken indicator again.

Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera

#365

Post by GekkePrutser »

ehsankia wrote: post #239
rurp wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is your point that because these issues have been fixed there will never be a new camera exploit in the future? I don't see how what you're saying supports that. If your point is simply that Apple has resolved camera vulnerabilities in the past, that's nice, but doesn't exactly give me much peace of mind about future vulnerabilities.

No, the point is that old light indicators were done in software (and were open to exploits), whereas newer indicators have all since moved to being wired right in the hardware. The power of the webcam lights up the indicator.

But most of this 'hardware' is still software. Firmware inside the webcam itself, which could also be hacked.

Most webcams do report themselves to the OS while inactive, so they are actually communicating with the system (and thus powered)

Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera

#366

Post by Wingman4l7 »

apecat wrote: post #77
miles wrote: post #23

> "Designed to protect your privacy, Mac notebooks have a camera indicator light to let you know when the camera is on. ... Published Date: July 02, 2020" Perhaps Apple missed these? 2013: iSeeYou: Disabling the MacBook Webcam Indicator LED https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/36569 2016: Your Mac’s Camera Can Be Hacked https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/your-macs-camera-ca... 2016: Former NSA emp…

Recent Apple laptops have a separate SoC dedicated to secure boot as well as making sure macOS has no direct control over that camera indicator light, and more https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/07/29/what-apples-t2-ch... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Silicon#T_series

The handy-dandy T2 also helps to soft-brick laptops, destroying that pesky second-hand market!

Poor Apple had already destroyed that for iPhones and iPads but just couldn't do it for their laptops, until now!

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/akw558/apples-t2-security...

Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera

#367

Post by PascLeRasc »

matwood wrote: post #361
Spooky23 wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zuckerberg is probably compromised by multiple nation states in some way at any time. It’s a very different threat than most people have.

Nation states compromising Zuckerberg come in the front door and shake his hand.

Zuckerberg basically is the nation state we should be worried about. If a foreign country wants to spy on someone, they'll do it via a Facebook pixel.

Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera

#368

Post by txcwpalpha »

dabernathy89 wrote: post #212
duxup wrote: post #11

This seems like a pretty mild warning for folks who might stick a bulky cover on their camera and press down / pack their laptop tightly and now have wedged part of the screen open with the cover. I'm a fan of using painters tape.... pretty low profile, easily removed, stays on really well. Also the weird blue glow you get when the camera is on tells you pretty quick "Hey there's a cover on there" where sometimes wit…

It does not have to be a bulky cover. I used an extremely low profile webcam cover on my 2015 MBP for 3 years. I put a similar one on my 16" MBP, and it destroyed the screen after a couple weeks. Specifically, this is the webcam cover I was using: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C24NBGL/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_T...

I've been using this exact same cover on 3 different MBPs (yes I use 3 MBPs simultaneously, a 2016 13", a 2019 13", and 2019 15") for almost a year and haven't noticed anything even remotely close to it damaging the screen on any of them.

I actually just tested it, and the cover doesn't even make contact with the lower half of the MacBook when closed. The cover fits into the trackpad area, which is recessed. I don't see how it could possibly damage the screen without me putting enough pressure on it where the screen would have been damaged regardless.

Does the 16" have a shallower trackpad or a thinner rubber gasket around the screen than the 13" and 15" models? Even for Apple, it sounds insane that they would create something so fragile it could be broken by a 0.02" piece of plastic.

Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera

#369

Post by iso947 »

dabernathy89 wrote: post #217
reaperducer wrote: post #183

Looking at the comments here, I guess I'm the only one who finds sadness that Apple even has to publish this document. Some of those novelty and promotional camera covers are really quite thick. And it just seems like common sense to me that you wouldn't close a laptop with one of those things on. Just like I wouldn't close my laptop with a pen or a ham sandwich tucked into it. But I guess Apple has had enough compla…

This is the one that destroyed the screen on my 16" MBP. 0.023 inches thick. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C24NBGL/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_T...

That’s about half a mm. what the hell happens to Apple laptops if you get a coin trapped in there

When did Apple start building such fragile devices?

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