See how they can watch you from your computer's camera

One woman was shocked when she received her nude photos via e-mail. The photos had been taken several months ago – unbeknownst to her – by her laptop's built-in camera.

Fortunately, the FBI was able to spot a suspect: her classmate, Jared Abrahams. The FBI reportedly discovered the software on the Abrahams computer that allowed it to spy remotely, but also many other women.

Webcam

Abrahams confessed to his extortion in October. The case of this woman left a serious security issue pending.

Most that have built-in cameras also have an important safety feature – a light that is supposed to turn on whenever the camera is in use. But the woman said that she never told the light to turn on on her laptop. Therefore, she had no idea that someone was watching her.

This would not normally have happened. Remote control of a camera for a long time is a source of concern for privacy advocates, but there is no way to turn off the indicator light. New data show exactly the opposite.

Marcus Thomas, former assistant director of the FBI's Technology Division in Quantico, told The that the FBI has the ability to covertly activate the computer camera – without turning on the light that lets owners know they are being recorded.

A study presented by Johns Hopkins University gives us the first public confirmation that this can happen. While the research was done on systems on MacBooks and iMacs (models before 2008), the researchers say similar techniques could work on newer computers from different brands. In other words, if one computer has a built-in camera, it's possible that someone – the government or a malicious 19-year-old – could spy on the owner at any time.

Embedded cameras on Apple computers are designed to prevent this, said Stephen Checkoway, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins.
"Apple tried to make sure the LED would light up when the camera was running." 2008 - was a time when Apple products were created with a "hardware interface" between the camera and the lamp to ensure that the camera could not operate without warning.
But Checkoway and the graduate student Brocker, ήταν σε θέση να παρακάμψουν αυτό το χαρακτηριστικό ασφαλείας. “Υπάρχουν περισσότερα από ένα τσιπ στον υπολογιστή σας,” ανέφερε ο Charlie Miller, ένας εμπειρογνώμονας ασφάλειας στο Twitter . “Υπάρχει ένα τσιπ της μπαταρίας, ένα τσιπ στο πληκτρολόγιο, ένα τσιπ στη φωτογραφική μηχανή.”

MacBooks are designed to stop activating your iSight camera if the light does not turn on. But researchers have discovered how to reprogram the camera chip, known as a micro-controller, to bypass this security feature.

The work published by Brocker and Checkoway is called "iSeeYou: Disabling the MacBook Webcam LED Indicator, "And describes how to reprogram the iSight camera microcontroller to allow the camera and the light to operate independently.

Our researchers are also provided with a copy of their software proof of concept. In the following video, we show how the camera can be turned on without activating the warning light.

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Written by giorgos

George still wonders what he's doing here ...

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