“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
