FBI Director warns: Cover your webcam with tape to combat hackers
By Prempal Singh
The Director of the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, James Comey, has exposed and he covers up his webcam with a part of tape and has urged others to do the same in order to fight hackers. “Heck yeah” was Comey’s answer if he was asked whether he blocked the webcam in the personal computer at a recent conference in Washington.
The head of just one of the world’s biggest security company also revealed how employees at the Bureau all use contraptions to cover the cameras on the work computers in the name of security.
“You go into any government office and we all have little camera things that sit on top of the screen, ” Comey said. “You do this so that folks who you do not have expert don’t look at you. I think that’s a good thing, ” this individual explained.
Comey declared that such simple security was common sense that everyone is going to take and likened it to being as routine as securing your car or the doors of your house.
Hackers taking control of users’ webcams is becoming an increasing threat as malware attacks take the rise. Those who have had their camera affected may find themselves at the end of an extortion or blackmail attempt as malicious actors pry into the personal life and warned to post it online.
It had been revealed back in April that Comey used tape as a low-budget counter-surveillance measure and was widely criticised for hypocrisy as, during the time, the San Bernardino iPhone unlocking tale was unfurling where this individual voiced his judgment that companies should not make products that authorities are not able to break into.
“It’s not crazy that the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION director cares about personal security as well”, he was quoted as saying. “So I believe people ought to take responsibility for their own security and security”.
On the other hand, he is not the sole high-profile person to tape over their web cam. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was caught out in an Instagram image seated at a computer that appeared to belong to him with tape masking the camera and the music port.
The web experienced plenty of fun with this after conspiracy advocates had been accusing Facebook for years of spying on users through mobile phone microphones.
This claim was disproved by the interpersonal network which said it only asks for gain access to to the microphone when recording videos.