Covering Your Webcam and Its Benefits
If you think having to cover your webcam is pure paranoia, think again. That's a smart thing to do anyway, paranoia or not. The Internet is absolutely capable of exposing you to an intruder by means of your camera.
This vulnerability is due to the very design of your computer. There are camera lights which are hardware-locked, which means the light and the webcam are physically connected. It's impossible to turn on the cam while keeping the light off and vice-versa. However, there are cases in which the camera lights are software-locked, meaning there is a code that turns on the light. Hackers take advantage of this by changing the code.
If your computer gets a Trojan virus, either from a malicious website or email attachment, a cyber criminal can begin secretly manipulating your webcam. These hacks have actually become a huge business nowadays, where women have been often victimized.
But though Trojan hacking is still the most common and drastic method of infiltrating a system, some unscrupulous websites have also begun using basic techniques to invade the privacy of webcam users. Clickjacking is among the simplest ways for hackers to control a camera. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webcam to know more about webcams.
To close an ad, people usually click an X button on it. Clickjackers are aware of this behavior pattern, and they will usually create an invisible button near the X button so that when it's clicked, it connects to a code that is meant to turn on the camera. Picture your browser asking if it can use your webcam and audio. Over the "Yes" button could be an invisible button that turns on your camera when you click it. All it takes is another simple script to disable your webcam light so that you'll no idea that the device is actually on.
You may never know whether or not you're safe from hackers, but the first thing you can do to defend yourself is to update your browsers and anti-virus software regularly at http://www.c-slide.com. On top of that, you can use plug in browsers that deactivate unneeded scripts, and keep you informed of your computer's interactions with visited websites.
So is it important to use a webcam cover? Most probably yes. After all, you lose nothing by taking extra precautions. If you're usually very active on the Internet, especially on video chat websites, a webcam cover is likely worthwhile. Of course, aside from that, you should make sure that your anti-virus software is kept up to date. This point can never be overstated, especially these days when cyber crimes are increasing by the day.
