A woman was shocked when she received two nude photos of herself via e-mail. The photos were 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.
Abrahams confessed to the blackmail in October. The case of this woman left a serious issue security Pending.
Most laptops with built-in cameras also have an important security feature - a light that is supposed to turn on every time the camera is in use. The woman, however, stated that she never said that the light should be on on her laptop. Therefore, she had no idea that anyone 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, a former assistant director of the FBI's Technology Division at Quantico, told The Washington Post that the FBI has the ability to covertly turn on the computer camera - without turning on the light that allows owners to record them.
Μία έρευνα που παρουσιάστηκε από το Πανεπιστήμιο Johns Hopkins, μας δίνει την πρώτη δημόσια επιβεβαίωση ότι αυτό μπορεί να συμβεί. Ενώ η έρευνα έγινε σε συστήματα σε MacBook και iMac (μοντέλα πριν από το 2008), αλλά οι ερευνητές δηλώνουν ότι παρόμοιες τεχνικές θα μπορούσε να λειτουργήσουν και σε πιο πρόσφατους υπολογιστές από διαφορετικές μάρκες. Με άλλα λόγια, εάν ένας φορητός υπολογιστής έχει μια ενσωματωμένη κάμερα, είναι δυνατό κάποιος – η κυβέρνηση ή ένας maliciouss 19 years old – to be able to spy on the owner at any time.
The built-in cameras in Apple computers are designed to avoid this, said Stephen Checkoway, professor of computer science. computers 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.
Αλλά Checkoway και ο μεταπτυχιακός college student Matthew Brocker, were able to bypass this security feature. "There's more than one chip in your computer," said Charlie Miller, a security expert on Twitter. "There's a chip in the battery, a chip in the keyboard, a chip in the camera."
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.
