11–20 of 58 posts
I recognize that this is more awkward than most people want. But the built in cameras (and third party too) are so terrible that it’s worth it to me.
There's something to be said for the more recent thinkpads that have physical sliders built into the laptop.
I find this popular trend of webcam sliders for purported security reasons is mere security theatre as long as microphones cannot be physically disconnected.
I use a small tab of yellow sticky note. I use it not due to attacks but rather for the many dumb teleconferencing apps I have to use at work. Some automatically send video, some don’t. I try to configure them not to start video by default but for whatever reason, one of them always does.
I’d be way more worried about someone putting a keylogger on my laptop versus them taking control of the webcam.
Exactly. If someone can see through my webcam, I have more to worry about than them seeing my room. I get the appeal of webcam covers; they’re a quick and simple alleviation to the idea of a “peeping Tom”, but if someone can see through your camera when you don’t want them to, they probably already have control of other things on the computer. They could install a keylogger and siphon my documents/photos for more bla…
My webcam on my own computers, no real fear. When that same device is USB connected to a work supplied computer? Zero trust.
There's something to be said for the more recent thinkpads that have physical sliders built into the laptop.
Yes, if it’s built in then it’s a lot less awkward. You can close the laptop with it on, etc. The practical problems with doing this are bigger than theoretical ones. Ultimately Apple should probably build this in given their “privacy” messaging. But in any case, I think surreptitious microphone access is a bigger problem than this, and there’s no easy solution to it.
I would like to see more and more of these physical kill switches, hopefully kind of like the silent switches on my iPhone, but maybe with little sliding locks to keep them in position.
I’d be way more worried about someone putting a keylogger on my laptop versus them taking control of the webcam.
What I'm defending against is one of the many apps I have to use for conferencing (Zoom, Google Meet, Bluejeans, Teams) starting up with the camera on when I'm not expecting it (and e.g. not wearing a shirt, my wife getting ready in the background, etc) for example because it was on last time I used that particular app.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not defend against both scenarios?
I’m not saying we shouldn’t. I actually think manufacturers should go a step further and add physical kill switches to webcams. That would allow cutting off the audio as well. I’m just saying that a sticker seems to be a bandaid on a possibly bigger issue.
Is anyone really going to try find a novel rootkit on their daily driver windows thinkpad or airbook, when you could more easily set up a honeynet if you were hunting that threat. Without a honeypot, pulling apart your workstation means you are your own control group, and you just start losing your mind. To me that seems like spending a day to source and replace a UART in a cheap pair of headphones instead of replacing them. If I still ran linux or a bsd I would pay more attention, but running a commercial OS is already being at such a disadvantage that the effort doesn't justify the results. Instead, there is a room or a box that electronics go in when they aren't being used.
Software security controls are a speedbump for the threat actors most of us deal with. If they want to get you, they will. Cam covers and physical controls are the best possible controls because they do what they are. The same cannot be said for software.