Mark Zuckerberg Covers His Laptop Camera. You Should Consider It, Too | Hacker News Reader

Mark Zuckerberg Covers His Laptop Camera. You Should Consider It, Too

nytimes.com

32 pointsterryauerbach44 comments

Recent discussions:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11952255

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11949278

Hm, I still think that's stupid. The information leaked by the cam are minimal compared to gettinng your email hacked for example. The mic part, a tape is probably not doing anything significant and you can still be spyed upon.

There's a jack in the mic port, so that cuts the internal microphone.

I don't think so, it's just a software switch. You can still access the original mic via regular recording softwares.

The circuit that delivers electricity to the Mac camera goes through the green light diode.

Hope that's the case. Always seemed like a better idea than having it be firmware controlled.

It is not the case: http://www.tested.com/tech/mac-os/459491-mac-webcam-hack-pro...

It is for newer macs:

> If you have a new-ish Mac, don't panic--this hack is for older iSight cameras, although it's possible that newer Mac cameras have their own vulnerabilities.

Can you confirm that new Macs are safe?

This sentence doesn't do that.

Even if you cover the camera, there is no way to do the same with the microphone (turning it off in software is not the same). Vendors should make machines with a hardware switch.

But where would they fit that? The sides of today's laptops already have a whopping one port! /s

Why did hardware switches die out?

they break. and only a small proportion of customers demand them. (speculation)

I have a slide switch on my Dell laptop to turn off wifi. I've never known anyone to use it. (Not to say there isn't a use, but rather to say that a major vendor puts it in despite that the average customer would not use it, and it doesn't seem to break.)

We had similar laptops in a clinic where I worked a few years ago. The hardware switch for wifi caused hours of confusion and many unnecessary calls to the IT service--I never understood the use-case. Is there one?

Most of those slide switches aren't actually hardware switches, they just tell the firmware/driver to disable it.

...time to knock-up a coin-cell driven white noise generator attached to a piezo disc in a slim case with self-adhesive fixing. I offer you the hiss-o-tron 'improved-security' device.

Actually just covering the microhole opening will make it unable to get most/any of the sound.

This is especially important for people who are using employer or school-provided laptops. The Lower Merion School District drew national attention to this issue[1], but most people still don't understand how trivial it is for an employer (or school) to spy on them. Some sleazy IT guy could be recording everything 24/7 and they'd have no idea.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbins_v._Lower_Merion_School...

* Some sleazy IT guy or woman! :)

IT Guy*

* By way of illustration only, and not by way of limitation

I couldn't possibly guess his motives for covering the lens, but I'll give you mine: There are times when you inadvertently open apps which like opening the camera, and if you're unawares, that basically live streams you till you notice or someone pings you.

In other words, it's not do much someone will hack you, but rather you're minimizing having a "hot lens" or a "hot mic" unbeknownst.

There is far too much malware that exists to turn these devices on to spy on the user without indicating to them that they are operating. If you pick up that malware, your only defence is covering those devices to render them useless at that point in time.

Fair point. That said, I'd find it surprising Mark would presume he's hacked. If his system is vulnerable, whose isn't and how can anyone do any financial transactions on their systems if they can presume malware is present?

> If his system is vulnerable, whose isn't

That's the thing, everyone's vulnerable but vulnerable is not a synonym for compromised. And you don't cover the camera because you think you've been compromised, you do it before in case you ever were later.

If you decide to do this too, consider supporting the EFF at the same time: https://supporters.eff.org/shop/laptop-camera-cover-set

I have one of these on my computer and it works great. They are removable for the occasional video call. One sticker has lasted me several years--it's a great deal for $5.

It's too bad they don't have some plain black or plain silver versions of this.

Rebember that this guy's password is^Wwas 'dadada'. I would not put to much into this.

Okay, now I've got an interesting question. On my ancient MacBook, while using bootcamp, there was a driver issue, which did not allow me to disable TOSLINK in my audio jack, so always shining a bright red light out of it. While not being annoying, would it been possible to grab the audio information wile being in a line-of-sight?

That would be the only thing why I "could" understand taping over the audio jack...

The odd thing is "black" tape over mic & "clear-ish" tape over camera. Shouldn't it be the other way round.

Oh, and I try to find a tape that matches the laptop color so my paranoia isn't visible from a mile away.

> so my paranoia isn't visible from a mile away.

It's okay, the only people who would call you paranoid are obviously part of the conspiracy.

I've seen a pretty neat looking camera cover for Macs, iirc it was a very wide magnet that spanned most of the top of the screen, could be slid aside easily.

http://spishutter.com/ ?

What if you use your laptop camera for video conferencing?

I buy one of these for all my MacBooks: http://spishutter.com

Looks better than tape.

He's so well known publicly that even a small amount of information leaked from him can make a huge mess in the media so I kind of understand him.

Why did he also have his audio jack taped over?

It's the microphone, not the audio jack.

It's definitely the audio jack, but you can use it for a mic, I just don't understand how it can record you without a mic plugged in. Thus my honest question.

twitter.com/topherolson/status/745294977064828929

Maybe so the sound wouldn't go in... ;)

Could just be a joke. People like having subtle fun. If I were someone whose moves were so scrutinized, I'd have some fun with silly things too.

I would not source my security advice from a developer I think is the answer people are overlooking.

I have mine covered with a sticker printed from a labelmaker that reads "Go away NSA".

Or maybe he's just paranoid and you shouldn't jump off the cliff too

Does he do the same with his phone?

If the laptop is administered by Facebook's IT, maybe they have a way to use the cameras clandestinely

(Unlikely with Apple's hardware but if I were an employee and the CEO was taping I'd do it too)

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