Why a webcam cover should be compulsory

Do I need a webcam cover?

According to a Bitkom study, one German in four already uses a webcam cover. In lecture halls it feels like every second laptop already has a Post-it or a sticker on it as a webcam cover. More and more digital natives are aware of the dangers online. But hand on heart: is there a real danger of being watched through the webcam? Exaggerated paranoia or a justified measure to protect your privacy? We clear it up.

Fit a webcam cover, yes or no? We give 3 reasons why you should definitely cover the camera of your laptop with a webcam cover. First, though, one question has to be answered: how can a webcam be misused at all?

How does a webcam actually get “hacked”?

As a rule a webcam cannot be hacked directly at all. An attacker or hacker first gets into the PC or laptop — with a classic trojan, for instance. Once they are in, the rest is easy. The intruder can then control the webcam remotely without being noticed. They have complete control of your device.

How would such webcam hacking work in practice?

There are countless possibilities. One realistic scenario: in a YouTube video about gaming, say, a comment points to a link where you can download cheats for that game. Gamers land on a download page and, along with the cheats, unwittingly download a trojan in a RAR file. Exactly that happened on a large scale recently.

The most common route, however, is still email. Users click on the files attached to the message or on links in the text to get at information. This bait tactic is called phishing.

Custom covers

Reason 1:

Zuckerberg, Snowden and former FBI director Comey do it too!

For anyone thinking logically, the alarm bells should be ringing by now. Why have a Mark Zuckerberg, a James Comey or an Edward Snowden demonstrably covered their laptops with a webcam cover or another protective device? This much is certain: there must be a good reason.

This picture of Mark Zuckerberg went around the world. In it you can see that he has taped over both his webcam and his microphone.

Went around the world: the microphone and webcam cover of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg

He does it too: in the clip below, former FBI director James Comey says why he tapes over the webcam of his laptop:

In this video the cyber security expert Tod Beardsley is interviewed. It covers not only webcam covers and webcam hacking on laptops, but on smartphones as well. The phone camera and the microphones can of course be accessed from outside just the same.

The danger does not only come from hackers — indeed only in small part. Since the revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden about the surveillance methods of intelligence services became known worldwide, digital surveillance has been no secret. He himself advises covering the webcam and the microphone on your laptop.

Reason 2:

There is no such thing as 100% security

Anyone with a reasonable grasp of IT can activate cameras remotely. That has been proved several times. The small green LED next to the webcam, which is supposed to warn you of suspicious webcam activity, is no help either: attackers can switch it off quite easily. So you do not even notice that the camera is running.

Almost anyone can use spy software

Remote administration software is widespread. Has your laptop ever been repaired remotely? There you are. Someone accesses your computer from somewhere to fix it. Nothing out of the ordinary.

But this software can be used for less honourable purposes as well. People then speak of Remote Access Trojans (RAT). Bad news: this spy software can be bought online quite easily. RATs are available for under CHF 100.-. On YouTube alone there are countless instructions on how to use them. With average IT knowledge, anyone can become a cyber spy.

Intelligence services can do anything — and do

What small-time hackers can do, the world's intelligence services have been able to do for a long time — with rather more budget. Since the Snowden affair at the latest, the world knows that intelligence services can do just about anything, and that they do it. According to the Snowden documents, the British intelligence service GCHQ spied on millions of people by webcam.

Reason 3:

Numerous cases of webcam hacking are known

• Stephen Checkoway and Matthew Broker of John Hopkins University showed as early as 2008 that they could access the cameras of Apple MacBooks. Windows users are of course anything but exempt here; they are even more vulnerable to such attacks.
• New cases of webcam hacking keep coming to light. In 2010 the laptops of a high school in Pennsylvania were hacked, for instance, and photos were taken of pupils who had taken the devices home.
• In 2013 there were several cases in which hackers dialled into their victims' computers and filmed them secretly.
• In 2016 it was Mac malware again: a Mac trojan takes over the FaceTime camera and films victims at home.

In 2018 numerous cases in Switzerland too: sextortion

Webcam hacking does not only happen in the USA: in Switzerland, cases of sextortion have been going round the media again and again of late. In sextortion, blackmailers claim to have access to the computer and the webcam. They threaten to publish images and videos of a sexual nature unless a ransom is paid. Often, however, it is fake sextortion — a well-known scam in which the threat is empty.

Quite unsettling: a typical sextortion email

Not exactly inviting: an example of a sextortion blackmail email

Tips for handling your privacy:

A representative survey by the German digital association Bitkom found that one person in four (in Germany) already deliberately covers the camera on laptops, tablets and smartphones.

It is above all 14 to 29-year-olds who protect themselves with a webcam cover. Among the over-65s only 13 per cent do so, so far.

How do I protect myself effectively against webcam hacking?

• Up-to-date anti-virus software is a must. The software recognises (normally) when a trojan lands on the computer that is also after your camera or your microphone.
• Browse attentively. When you are online you should pay attention to the links you click and to what you download and from where. The same goes for emails (phishing).
• With a webcam cover. Only with this “offline measure” can you be 100% sure of not falling victim to webcam hacking. So we are quite clear: a webcam cover is a must on every laptop (and on every smartphone).

Often seen: covering a laptop webcam with a Post-it as an alternative to a webcam cover

Make your own webcam cover?

• If you want to make the webcam cover yourself and use tape, then use tape that can be removed again without residue. Otherwise a white haze could lie over your picture at the next Skype call. With Post-its, never stick the adhesive side over the camera.
• A fixed and long-term solution is the webcam cover. This camera cover has a small slider. You can simply push it open when you actually need the camera; otherwise the webcam stays covered permanently. You can order the extra-thin webcam cover, the Twing Webcam Cover, here with free A-Post delivery to your home.
• Anyone fitting a webcam cover to their camera should think about the microphone as well. It can be listened in on just the same. Because devices are built so differently, there is no standard solution yet. Tape is the best option.

Elegantly solved: a webcam cover that slides open and shut

Should I cover my phone camera as well?

Yes, of course. The Austrian developer and entrepreneur Felix Krause warns about apps in this context. If you give apps permission to use your camera, you legally allow those apps access to your smartphone camera. In concrete terms that means:

• Rear and front camera when the app is running in the foreground
• Recordings may be uploaded and scanned with the help of facial recognition software
• The recordings may theoretically be streamed live

That means secret recordings can be made with the front and rear camera. The photos and videos are taken unnoticed and without any warning. Apps such as Facebook and WhatsApp can theoretically examine your facial expression in real time in order to “improve the user experience and show even more relevant content in future”.

Conclusion:

Play it safe with a webcam cover

Given the clear situation, taping over the laptop camera is not a paranoid act. Full stop. Numerous cases in recent years have shown that your own computer can be both hacked and monitored by intelligence services. Yes, with the emphasis on “can”. Of course not every ordinary citizen is actively monitored by intelligence services — and careful internet users have rather less to fear from hackers anyway. Even if the probability of being spied on is not particularly high: the possibility and the danger exist.

Anyone who wants to be on the safe side has only one option: the offline solution, with a webcam cover. A home-made scrap of paper or a piece of tape can help. But they come off easily, are quickly forgotten or do not cover properly. Anyone who wants to protect themselves seriously buys a webcam cover. Careful browsing and up-to-date anti-virus software should be the most normal thing in the world anyway.

The subject deserves a critical look at the internet of things as well: more and more devices connected to the internet come with a camera. Tests have shown that such devices, camera included, are alarmingly easy to hack.

About Twing

Twing is a supplier of innovative giveaways and sells, among other things, webcam covers as promotional products to business clients. Thanks to individual packaging design, these webcam covers with a logo are ideal for carrying messages. Is a camera cover as a promotional gift an option for your company too? Contact us now for a quote without obligation to get a webcam cover with your logo.

As a private customer you can order a twin pack of webcam covers right here in our online shop.

Ask about custom webcam covers now

Online sources:

A Mac trojan takes over the FaceTime camera: https://www.stern.de/digital/computer/apple-mac-malware-trojaner-facetime-camera-6939346.html A trojan in YouTube comments steals passwords: https://winfuture.de/news,102665.html

Fortnite scam: trojans and viruses instead of cheat and hack tools: https://www.netzwelt.de/betrugswarnungen/164212-fortnite-scam-statt-cheat-hack-tools-gibt-trojaner-viren.html

Matthew Brocker and Stephen Checkoway of John Hopkins University show that they can switch on cameras built into Apple devices: https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/36569

Switching on the webcam of Windows devices without the LED light is possible: https://blog.erratasec.com/2013/12/how-to-disable-webcam-light-on-windows.html#.V7J3p5PhAUF

According to the Snowden documents, the British intelligence service stored millions of webcam images: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/digital/yahoo-britischer-geheimdienst-gchq-speicherte-millionen-webcam-bilder-1.1900186

Mark Zuckerberg tapes over his webcam and his microphone: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/22/mark-zuckerberg-tape-webcam-microphone-facebook

Sextortion: many people in Switzerland affected: https://www.bacs.admin.ch/en/cyberthreats/fake-sextortion

Sextortion blackmailers make off with 360,000 francs: https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/schweiz/standard/sextortionerpresser-erbeuten-360-000-franken/story/29413504

In this video the former FBI director says why he tapes over the webcam of his laptop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFweBV7nJ_4

One in four fears camera spies: https://www.bitkom.org/Presse/Presseinformation/Jeder-Vierte-fuerchtet-Kamera-Spione.html

Webcam hacking case at a school in Pennsylvania: https://www.computerworld.com/article/2521075/pennsylvania-schools-spying-on-students-using-laptop-webcams–claims-lawsuit.html

In 2013 hackers dialled into their victims' computers and filmed them secretly: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/rat-breeders-meet-the-men-who-spy-on-women-through-their-webcams/

Apps can take photos secretly on iOS: https://derstandard.at/2000066715933/Apps-koennen-auf-iOS-heimlich-Fotos-schiessen

Secret surveillance: iPhone surveillance is possible without permission: https://www.basicthinking.de/blog/2017/11/27/heimliche-aufnahmen-iphone/

Pentesters show how easy IoT devices are to hack: https://www.infoguard.ch/de/blog/iot-devices-auf-dem-pruefstand-unsere-pentester-zeigen-wie-leicht-sie-zu-hacken-sind