“Malicious websites and apps can gain access to your webcam and microphone,” Fatima Wahab reports for Additive Tips. “A lot of people might consider this to be an urban legend but there is truth to it.”
“Unfortunately, a website or an app that does this isn’t going to be easy to detect by the average user,” Wahab reports. “Tech savvy users might be able to tell if their webcam or mic is being accessed but for the ordinary user, and Mark Zuckerberg, you likely have to tape a bit of paper over your webcam to be safe.”
“Oversight is a free macOS app that makes this much easier. It monitors all connected webcams and microphones and alerts you when they are accessed,” Wahab reports. “It’s a very simple app that monitors current processes and can identify which app started a process to access these two devices.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: On this issue, we’re decidedly brute-force/low tech as 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.
SEE ALSO:
Former NSA staffer demonstrates Mac malware that can tap into live webcam and mic feeds – October 6, 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