Sunday, December 22, 2013

Research shows how MacBook Webcams can spy on their users without warning



Last week, researchers at Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Computer Science showed off an exploit that allows a hacker to take over some MacBook computers and activate their Web cameras without the users’ knowledge.

The webcam hacking technique, first reported by The Washington Post, is said to be similar to a tactic used to spy on Cassidy Wolf, a 19-year-old Miss Teen USA, who fell victim to a webcam hacker earlier this year.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested the man responsible for the spying on Ms. Wolf. He pleaded guilty to charges in connection with his spying on her and a number of other women, using software that could snap a picture or record video of them without warning.

The Johns Hopkins paper, titled “iSeeYou: Disabling the MacBook Webcam Indicator LED,” explains how the researchers were able to reprogram an iSight camera’s microcontroller to activate the recording functions and LED activation lights independently to spy on someone without giving that person any idea that the computer camera is in use.

This problem with the onsite LED indicator is a problem with both old and new MACBOOKs. 
Watch the full repot here from the Washington Post


The only way to protect yourself from webcam spying is to cover it.  #C-SLIDE makes the best Webcam covers on the market today.  Check them out at http://www.webcamcover.com

Saturday, December 21, 2013

The ResidenT discusses how to protect yourself from the FBI webcam spying


 The Resident Webcam Cover Solution

As seen on #theresident the FBI can now watch you via your web camera without you even knowing.  So if you think your LIGHT will turn ON, when your camera is ON, then you are WRONG!  This report that the FBI is currently spying has been confirmed.  The only way to protect yourself is to cover it.  As, articulated in the report C-SLIDE is the most sophisticated webcam cover on the market.
You can check them out at http://www.webcamcover.com

What the full report by clicking HERE>>  Learn more by following The ResidenT on twitter at @theresient or follow us @webcamcovers

Thursday, December 12, 2013

'They watched me in the bath via my laptop': How webcam hackers spy on women in their homes

A university student has revealed how she was spied on by hackers while she was in the bath.  English student Rachel Hyndman was using her laptop to watch a DVD in her bathroom when she noticed her webcam suddenly turned itself on. 

Miss Hyndman, 20, from Glasgow, said: 'I was in the bath, trying to relax, and then programs on my computer came on like a ghost was using it. I couldn't regain control of it. 

'It was terrifying to think people had been looking at me without me knowing. I wondered how often they had done it without me realizing. The thought someone had access to me in this private moment is horrifying.' 

Miss Hyndman, who also works in a computer shop, said she considered going to the police but feared they would laugh at her.

Called 'ratting', hackers can send out an internet virus that allows them access to a person's desktop computer or laptop without their knowledge.  They can then switch on the webcam – built in to most new computers – and watch people in the privacy of their living rooms and bedrooms without them realizing they are being closely observed.

A webcam is a video camera that feeds images in 'real time' to another computer, computer network or the internet.
A BBC Radio 5 Live investigation found the illegal practice is now so prevalent there is even a profitable underground market selling the ability to watch victims, who are dubbed 'slaves', for a few pounds.

More worryingly, pedophiles are using the technique to target youngsters – mainly girls – who have computers in their bedrooms.
#ratting #webcamspying #webcamhacking  #RAT

The only way to stop webcam hacking is with a webcam cover.  C-SLIDE makes the best webcam covers on the market today.  Check them out at http://www.webcamcover.com


Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Is someone watching you via your webcam?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Is someone watching you while you're in the privacy of your own?
The issue of web hacking took the national spotlight earlier this month when Miss Teen USA, Cassidy Wolf, and the FBI came forward stating that someone hacked into her, took pictures of her through a webcam and then allegedly tried to extort her.
A 19-year-old ended up pleading guilty to three counts of extortion and one count of computer in that case.]
So what can you do to make sure you don't become a victim?
#Sextortion #webcamhacking  #webcamspying #cassidywolf
The only way to stop webcam hacking is with a webcam cover.  C-SLIDE makes the best webcam covers on the market today.  Check them out at http://www.webcamcover.com


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Hollywood is incorporating Webcam Spying into the plot of The Good Wife: The RAT’s in the Cradle

Below is a recap of the popular TV Show The Good Wife.  In the recap you see how they use Webcam Spying as the main story line.  You know we have a serious problem with Webcam Hacking when Hollywood starts to incorporate it in to the movies and TV shows. 

Back at the apartment offices of the new firm, former L&G bankruptcy trustee -- now lawyer -- Clark Hayden arrives. Cary and Alicia have brought him in to analyze their books. As suspected, things don't look so good. They're burning overhead money and not bringing in enough billable hours. 

Worse, Zach discovers that someone has taken over Alicia's computer, using a remote access tool, or RAT for short. By turning on Alicia's webcam, anyone on the other end can hear and see what's going on in the apartment. Though Clarke isn't crazy about the idea, Cary gets him to take part in a scheme to provide false information about the F-A's business, presumably to the folks at Lockhart & Gardner. 

David Lee still is fuming about Alicia's "betrayal" and tries to hang the malpractice case around her neck. The key piece of evidence is a check to a leader of the Chippewa nation -- a bribe to look the other way in the adoption case, which involved an infant of part-Native American heritage. Everything hinges on which attorney was the supervising partner of record. David claims it was Alicia, since she received her promotion to partner in the middle of the case. 

That would make Alicia liable for the whole malpractice claim -- a whopping $6 million. But Clarke Hayden says David was in charge. He knows this because of his work doing their books during the bankruptcy proceedings. Is Alicia in the clear?

It's Not About the New Firm

During Will's investigation of the girl's murder, he runs into Alicia's brother Owen on the college campus. Owen's surprised to learn his big sis has struck out on her own. He also doesn't buy the idea that she just wanted her independence.

Unable to keep out of it, he confronts Alicia back at her place about his suspicions: she left L&G to put distance between herself and Will. Just as they're about to get into it, Grace interrupts, looking for Zach. Now the webcam light is on her computer, not Alicia's. What's up with that?  #thegoodwife #webcamhacking


The only way to stop webcam hacking is with a webcam cover.  C-SLIDE makes the best webcam covers on the market today.  Check them out at http://www.webcamcover.com


Monday, December 9, 2013

EX-OFFICIAL SAYS FBI CAN SECRETLY ACTIVATE AN INDIVIDUAL’S WEBCAM WITHOUT THE INDICATOR LIGHT TURNING ON

The FBI can secretly activate a computer’s webcam to spy on an individual without turning on the indicator light, a former official revealed to the Washington Post in an article published Friday.

According to the Washington Post’s account of what Marcus Thomas — former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico — said, “The FBI has been able to covertly activate a computer’s camera — without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording — for several years, and has used that technique mainly in terrorism cases or the most serious criminal investigations.”
                                              
“Because of encryption and because targets are increasingly using mobile devices, law enforcement is realizing that more and more they’re going to have to be on the device — or in the cloud,” Thomas added, in reference to remote storage services. “There’s the realization out there that they’re going to have to use these types of tools more and more.”
TheBlaze has previously reported on hackers using remote access tools to activate an individual’s webcam and spy on them. #webcamspying #webcamhacking

The only way to stop webcam hacking is with a webcam cover.  C-SLIDE makes the best webcam covers on the market today.  Check them out at http://www.webcamcover.com