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Could someone hack and access my webcam and microphone?
I am worried if someone could hack and access my webcam and microphone anytime he/she wants. I am using a MacBook Pro and I know that the green light is supposed to be turned on when the webcam is being used. However, I've heard that there are hackers that can turn off the green light, so that I don't know it is being used.
I hope you can help me. Thanks very much.
MacBook Pro
That would depend on what ports are open, how many, if any firewalls and anti-virus things your are running. And what programs you give/gave permissions to for incoming/outgoing network access. If you are that worried, go into your security settings, advanced, see what programs have permissions IF your firewall is up. And that just click, BLOCK ALL incoming connections.
DO you use the mice and cam for things like skype, jabber, ichat and so on? DO you/ have you chatted on websites that use flashplayer for that?
That would depend on what ports are open, how many, if any firewalls and anti-virus things your are running. And what programs you give/gave permissions to for incoming/outgoing network access. If you are that worried, go into your security settings, advanced, see what programs have permissions IF your firewall is up. And that just click, BLOCK ALL incoming connections.
DO you use the mice and cam for things like skype, jabber, ichat and so on? DO you/ have you chatted on websites that use flashplayer for that?
I've opened the security settings and I've turned on the firewall. The programs that have permissions are Microsoft Word, Skype, Spotify and another program that I don't know what it is. Is called: "netsession_mac_ (followed by some numbers). Do you know what is this one?
And yes, I've chatted on websites that use Flashplayer. Is that dangerous?
HIGHLIGHT each of those programs/apps and then click the ( - ) at the bottom of that window to remove that item. Then go to the first security page and click to reset warnings. This will force anything you have giving permissions to, to ask again. If you do not know what the item is, then deny permissions. Did this help?
What makes you think someone else has control?
It's just because I didn't know that webcam hacking could happen. And I thought that I would know if someone accessed my webcam by seeing the green light, but now that I've heard that hackers can turn off this light, I'm worried.
A large part of that would depend on the type of site you use. There are scripts and such that might be able to turn the light off, I have read about a few. But you have to give those scripts/ apps access in the first place by installing them on the computer.
FLASH chat asks for the use of your cam and mic. Go to the Adobe site and go through their guide for settings.
http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/index.html
The safest way is not to use. Next, is to learn and clear out all the permissions after each session, even though you will see names of things you did not recall giving permission to.
I have used SKYPE, and found that I have a problem reclaiming my cam and mic for apps like iMOVIE. I also found that FLASH seems to give my access to sites I was not on. So I found it best to stay away unless I wanted to clean up after each use. THIS has just been my personal feeling about them. If you want to use that things, you have to clean up. At the very least that will clutter the system down with traffic on your open ports. So I have found.
Did that help?
Thank you very much. Is it very frequent people accessing and hacking others' webcams and turning on the green light, so that you can't know?
Yes, and it's possible to do so without the grenn LED being illuminated. There has been at least one instance that a stolen MBP was recovered by doing so. To be absolutely safe, you can put a piece of opaque tape over the camera lens. Not a high-tech solution, but it works.
The microphone can still be accessed, you have to find out where yours is on your particular hardware and cover it with a heavy object that will block the sound, play some background music to muffle anything that gets through.
Your less prone to that sort of malicious activity on a Mac than on a PC, but it has occured in the past with Mac's, but Apple has taken further precautions on more recent hardware than the older ones with the first built in iSight.
Like stated above webcam hacking is a real issue and not many people are aware of the threat. The only way to gurantee your protected from having your webcam hacked is to physically cover your webcam. This can be done with a piece of tape, but there is a company called camJAMR that provides fun/cool images that are printed on a business card size sheet made for a this exact thing. Their special adhesive prevents any residue from being left behind on the lens. Visit http://www.camJAMR.com to get your camJAMR today
Could someone hack and access my webcam and microphone?
