“As it happens a few high-profile folks have been spotted covering their webcams, including F.B.I. Director James Comey, who said in an interview, ‘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,'” Josh Norem writes for PCWorld.
“He was most likely referring to a photo Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg posted: In the background, his work laptop shows tape applied over the webcam above the display, and the dual mic on the left side,” Norem writes. “Now, it’s easy to imagine hackers wanting access to both the F.B.I. Director’s laptop as well as Mark Zuckerberg’s Macbook Pro, but would they want to access the webcam on a random person’s computer? The answer is that hackers stand to profit the most if they can capture footage or audio to use for blackmail.”
Norem writes, “If you want to be absolutely sure nobody is watching or listening to you, be like Zuck and cover your webcam and microphone with tape, a peel-off sticker, or something else that can obscure the lens but be removed easily when you actually want to use it.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Who isn’t smarter than James Comey?
Anyway, when it comes to cameras, nothing is as foolproof and unhackable as physically covering them.
We’ve been taping our Mac cameras for several years. Call us paranoid, but first see the related articles below. That’s why we use camJAMR iSight camera covers on our iMacs and MacBook Airs. They’re black, so they work perfectly with our iMacs and they’re removable/reusable. We’ve stuck and unstuck them hundreds of times. We just leave them on and peel them aside when we want to use the iSight camera. Plus they’re only $15.95.
SEE ALSO:
How to keep your Mac’s camera from spying on you, no tape required – December 8, 2016
Mark Zuckerberg covers his MacBook’s camera and microphone with tape – June 22, 2016
How to disable the iSight camera on your Mac – February 19, 2015
Orwellian: UK government, with aid from US NSA, intercepted webcam images from millions of users – February 27, 2014
Sextortion warning: It’s masking tape time for webcams – June 28, 2013
Research shows how Mac webcams can spy on their users without warning light – December 18, 2013
Ex-official: FBI can secretly activate an individual’s webcam without indicator light – December 9, 2013
Lower Merion report: MacBook webcams snapped 56,000 clandestine images of high schoolers – April 20, 2010
If this is becoming a major concern.. why not incorporate a little sliding cover in the design .. so we wont have to have ugly tapes on our devices.
That would require Jony to think about the user instead of his customary self adoration.
It would also add about .0001 ounces
And add about $100.00 bucks to price.
…and it takes courage…
… and the PR Department would tell how everyone in Apple would be ‘thrilled’
To be fair, are sliding design widespread on PCs?
It should be laser milled in aloominoom
Found this today…
I use a Post-it® Note on my iMac, with the sticky side on the back of the computer and the non-sticky part folded over the front. I don’t want adhesive residue on the camera aperture.
I simply put black electrical tape over mine. Been doing that for years! And only $15.95 for a sheet of black stickers? Are you MAD?
Me too, though I place a small circle of paper on the tape where it covers the camera so the sticky part doesn’t touch it.
What about ‘OverSight”?
I want a dead switch on both my camera and mic. This is the best solution. Why can’t we have that???
Yeah… second that about the mic.
I’m as concerned (maybe more so) about someone listening than I am about someone seeing something. Mac minis here so no camera worries.
Even if I had a Macbook or AIO, I wouldn’t be getting dressed/undressed/whatever in front of it.
If anyone knows anything about extracting data, it has to be Facebook. Who else updates an app every 2 weeks, for no reason
Mister Corey should disable the Mic on his laptop too
Someone might here planning how to manipulate the next election with Putin
I’d be more concerned about the microphone. And you can’t fix that with tape or a Post-it note. The camera on my laptop would get an image of my head and shoulders and the wall behind me. The microphone would get a lot more information.
And there are mics on my iPad, iPhone, Apple TV Remote. We’re not getting away from it.
Jobs was again ahead of the game with the Firewire iSight cam where one twist of the front barrel closes the iris. Simple elegant, effective and still using it.
Still using mine also, with a 2012 MacMini.
I hate talking on phone, so nothing to hear, my ridiculous face doing nothing but looking at keys as I type or reading news, MDN, etc. wall behind me. Nothing to see here, move along, as they say. A boring life is wonderful.
There’s a great utility called OverSight that is free and triggers a pop up warning anytime the OS processes make a call to the mic or webcam.
https://objective-see.com/products/oversight.html
OLD ARTICLE
READ IT ALREADY here at MDN
I use:
1) Little Snitch
&
2) Micro Snitch
The cure is any headless Mac WITHOUT AN APPLE DISPLAY.
Go buy a Mac mini, buy a 32″ HDTV, an HDMI cable and you are in business. If you wish to add a camera, buy any one of a number of USB cameras that you can unplug. The same is our for a Mike or use a Bluetooth Headset.
Wow, that was really hard.
Here is a link to an Amazon search for USB webcams
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=USB+webcams
Does that include a Vizio TV…? 😉
Any HDTV with an HDMI cable and 1080 resolution can be used with a Mac mini and most do not have a webcam.
I have set up a number of Mac minis for friends and family with a 32″ HDTV with nothing more than an HDMI cable- the audio can use the TV’s speakers unless you want something else.
Here is an Apple support page:
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19036?locale=en_US
I think the humor was lost on you….https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/business/vizio-television-vizio-collected-viewers-habits-consent.html?_r=0
I was doped up on cold medicine when I posted that. I probably couldn’t have picked LeBron out of a lineup of dwarfs.
Also using OverSight – free app that monitors mic and camera on my MB Air – and alerts when/if in use. Recommended.
Well what about the iPhone camera and microphone?
Jeez, just use black electrical tape. I cut a small piece and put it over my camera and you can’t even see it, it blends in so well.
Pirate bandaid.
The only report I’ve seen of activating an iSight camera remotely involved first generation iSight cameras used in G5s and 2008 macs. Any actual evidence of a more recent ability to hack more modern Macs?