Do you need to put a sticker on your laptop camera?
Let me tell you a story. A friend of mine once had her acquaintance take her phone for a while. Too bad, the device was unlocked. Soon after, she started receiving photos via email — these were shots of her taken by a front camera of her phone. It was as if the camera randomly turned on and took a picture.
Of course, it was a total shock to my friend. Eventually, she linked the situation to the day when her faux friend messed with her phone. Reluctant at first, he ultimately confessed installing spying software to the gadget. Being unsure about the effective removal of the program, the girl stopped using that phone completely.
This is not an isolated case, though. Publications on webcam hacking have been regularly appearing in the media for more than a decade now. For example, Microsoft has mentioned a possible hacking of a webcam by a so-called Remote Access Trojan (RAT) as early as in 2002.
Next, the infamous Optic Nerve story took place in 2014, when Edward Snowden revealed that the British Government Communications Headquarters agency collected private webcam stills from the users of a Yahoo! webcam app.
New scandals keep unfolding in 2019, such as the finding of a FaceTime bug that allowed iPhone users to covertly watch and listen to their contacts even before they accepted a FaceTime call.
So, technically, it is definitely possible for someone to sneakily watch you through your phone or computer camera.
The probability of it is a different story. Of course, attacks aimed at your cameras are more likely if you are a celebrity, a politician, or a wealthy person. It is also the case when someone is deeply interested in you and they have respective ethics and technical skills. Yet, in other cases, you still may fall victim to someone with voyeurist inclinations.
What can you do?
Check-up
- Watch if the LED light next to your camera is on when you are not using it
- Check whether there are running webcam processes or audio/video transmissions on your device (see Task Manager)
- Look for software on your device you don’t remember installing
Still, the absence of these symptoms is not a 100% guarantee that everything’s ok. A LED light can be disabled by a hacker, while suspicious processes and programs might be hard to spot. On the other hand, the appearance of these signs does not certainly mean your camera is hacked. Yet, if you notice any of them, you better proceed with the protective measures.
Protection
- Physically cover the cameras
- Temporarily set up firewall parameters to block audio and video traffic
- Uninstall the webcam drivers
- Scan your entire device using a reliable anti-malware solution
- If any malicious software is found, get rid of it as recommended by the anti-malware program
- Reinstall the webcam drivers and disable the previously set firewall parameters
This should be enough but in case you still see the signs of spying, consider reinstalling the operating system of your device.
Prevention
- Cover or unplug your cameras when you are not using them
- Buy new devices only from trusted vendors and be especially careful with second-hand devices
- Request technical support only from trusted providers
- Buy stand-alone cameras with encrypted communications
- Set strong passwords for stand-alone cameras when installing them
- Be sure to have an activated antivirus and a firewall on your device at all times
- Update and patch your devices, drivers and applications regularly
- Don’t click on suspicious links and avoid downloading non-legitimate software
