The lesson is always cover your camera.
Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230
311–320 of 554 posts
Re: Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230
#312There's a reason that zuck has tape over his webcam and a 3.5mm dummy plugged into his combo headphone/mic jack
How would a 3.5mm dummy mic jack prevent software from just changing the input mic source to the built in one?
it probably doesn't
Re: Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230
#313The easiest solution is to assume your webcam is 100% hostile and keep a cover/sticker on it until you need it.
Re: Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230
#314Earlier quoted context omitted.
Soldering iron to the rescue. Locate the microphone and unsolder it. I haven't seen any microphone integrated in the processor. Yet
M2 and newer MacBooks have an IMU on-board, which is just a funny way of spelling microphone. Admittedly a very low quality one; I'm not sure if you could pick up understandable speech at the 1.6kHz sample rate Bosch's IMUs seem to support.
> M2 and newer MacBooks have an IMU on-board, which is just a funny way of spelling microphone. Admittedly a very low quality one; I'm not sure if you could pick up understandable speech at the 1.6kHz sample rate Bosch's IMUs seem to support.
Are there examples of using IMUs to get audio data you could point to? A quick search didn't reveal anything.
Re: Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230
#315I thought the whole point of these camera LEDs was to have them wired to/through the power to the camera, so they are always on when the camera is getting power, no matter what. Having the LED control exposed through the firmware completely defeats this.
They are hardwired on Macbooks. From Daring Fireball, quoting an email from an Apple engineer. > All cameras after [2008] were different: The hardware team tied the LED to a hardware signal from the sensor: If the (I believe) vertical sync was active, the LED would light up. There is NO firmware control to disable/enable the LED. The actual firmware is indeed flashable, but the part is not a generic part and there ar…
Do you know if the same occurs in iPhones? That was always my assumption, but seeing a Mac-only response makes me wonder if it is addressing a Mac/only question or if it’s applicable only to Macs.
Re: Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
"All Apple silicon-based Mac notebooks and Intel-based Mac notebooks with the Apple T2 Security Chip feature a hardware disconnect that disables the microphone whenever the lid is closed. On all 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air notebooks with the T2 chip, all MacBook notebooks with a T2 chip from 2019 or later, and Mac notebooks with Apple silicon, this disconnect is implemented in hardware alone." [1] [1] https:/…
That's what they said about the first gen Facetime cameras. "oooh don't worry, it's controlled in hardware!" We have no way of verifying that anything they said in that document is true.
It's clear Apple define "Hardware" as "Not using the main CPU". They've pretty much admitted it's firmware based, otherwise the T2 chip simply wouldn't be involved to be mentioned.
Re: Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230
#317Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's why many ThinkPads have physical covers over their cameras. You don't even need to worry about whether the LEDs are hardwired - relying on any electronic indicator is already a half-baked security measure. If you want real security, just go with a physical solution.
…until it isn’t: my ThinkPad P1 Gen 6 has the camera cover, yes - but it doesn’t have a cover for the depth-sensing camera, only the RGB cam, even though userland applications can get imaging data from that camera just as easily - which is potentially a bigger security issue: I imagine you could reconstruct my facial shape from the data and build a dummy head to get into my iPhone/iPad via FaceID. (No, I’m not actual…
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Re: Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230
#318This approach likely affects many other laptops, as connecting the webcam over USB and allowing to reflash its firmware is a common design pattern across laptop manufacturers.
WTF? Am I the only one who thinks webcams shouldn't even need accessible firmware in the first place? I have one which is over 2 decades old and it has worked perfectly fine (albeit at a low rsolution) since the day it was bought, with no need for any firmware updates.
Re: Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230
#319I'd like a laptop without a built in microphone and camera altogether, to be honest.
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Re: Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230
#320Why The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
"I saw something in the news, so I copied it. I put a piece of tape — I have obviously a laptop, personal laptop — I put a piece of tape over the camera. Because I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera."
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/08/473548674...
Is there anyone who doesn't do this?