[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #509: Blinders on the webcams

Wed Sep 28 10:29:54 EDT 2016

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OPLIN 4cast #509: Blinders on the webcams
September 28th, 2016

[image: Web Camera on Wireless Keyboard] It was supposed to be a speech at
Kenyon College about encryption and privacy by FBI Director James Comey,
but what caught everyone’s attention was his remark
<http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/08/473548674/why-the-fbi-director-puts-tape-over-his-webcam>
in the question and answer session afterward when he admitted he puts tape
over his webcam. A few weeks later, it was supposed to be a celebration of
Instagram reaching 500 million users in a month, but the picture
<http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/21/11995032/mark-zuckerberg-webcam-tape-photo>
Mark Zuckerberg posted had everyone talking instead about the piece of tape
over the webcam of his laptop in the background. Is this some sort of
contagious paranoia? Or do these apparently rational people know something
we should know?
- Paranoid or prudent: Should you tape over your webcam?
<http://cameras.reviewed.com/features/paranoid-or-prudent-should-you-tape-over-your-webcam>
(Cameras Reviewed | Ethan Wolff-Mann)  “Clickjacking
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickjacking> is one of the simplest ways
hackers can seize power over a webcam. When a user sees a button that
appears to close an ad, it can be assumed that they’ll click on it. Knowing
this, clickjackers create an invisible button
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/06/14/two-year-old-flash-bug-still-allows-webcam-spying-on-chrome-users/>
over that area, connected to a script that activates the camera. You know
how your browser asks if it can have permission to use your webcam and
audio? Well, imagine that dialog screen is invisible and the ‘yes’ button
is placed directly over the spot you’d click.”
- FBI Director — You should cover your webcam with tape
<http://thehackernews.com/2016/09/hacking-webcam-cover.html> (The Hacker
News | Mohit Kumar)  “Leaks revealed the NSA’s Optic Nerve operation
<http://thehackernews.com/2014/02/optic-nerve-dirty-nsa-hacked-into.html>
that was carried out to capture webcam images every 5 minutes from random
Yahoo users, and in just six months, images of 1.8 Million users were
captured and stored on the government servers in 2008. However, putting a
tape over the lens of your computer’s webcam would not solve the problem,
especially in this era when we are surrounded by so many Internet-connected
devices that are a security nightmare. Due to the insecure implementation,
these Internet-connected or Internet of Things (IoTs) devices, including
Security Cameras, are so vulnerable that hackers are routinely hijacking
them and using them as weapons in cyber attacks. So, it is far more easy
for hackers to hack your security cameras, instead of your laptop’s webcam,
to keep track on you and your environment.”
- The FBI Director puts tape over his webcam, should you?
<http://osxdaily.com/2016/04/18/put-tape-on-web-camera-yes-no/> (OS X Daliy
| Paul Horowitz)  “So, the obvious question is, should you tape over *your*
webcam? The answer likely depends on a variety of things; how concerned you
are about a potential issue impacting you, your line of work, and what
operating system software you use. If you are on an ancient Windows PC that
hasn’t updated system software in 10 years and has installed every dodgy
piece of junkware that comes your way and you see the webcam light flicker
on and off constantly, then yes you may want to consider slapping some tape
on the webcam to prevent someone snapping pictures of you with[out] your
knowledge.”
- Mark Zuckerberg tapes over his webcam. Should you?
<https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/22/mark-zuckerberg-tape-webcam-microphone-facebook>
(The Guardian | Alex Hern)  “Even experts who don’t cover their cameras
think they should. Why doesn’t Matthew Green, an encryption expert at Johns
Hopkins University? ‘Because I’m an idiot,’ he told [the Guardian’s Danny]
Yadron. ‘I have no excuse for not taking this seriously … but at the end of
the day, I figure that seeing me naked would be punishment enough.’”

*Articles from Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - Iris and eye corner detection by processing internal webcam images.
   <https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cph&AN=114739505>
   (*Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences*, 2016,
   p.3036-3048 | Bülent Turan and Halil İbrahim Eski̇kurt)
   - Why webcam indicator lights are lousy privacy safeguards.
   <https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=108313701>
   (*Christian Science Monitor*, 7/13/2015 | Malena Carollo)
   - Could FBI turn on cameras and microphones next?
   <https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=113775936>
   (*Fortune.com*, 3/10/2016 | Hilary Brueck)

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