Re:Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
by gmantg on Friday July 10, 2020 @07:33PM
(#23797858)
Unlike a led light, a piece of tape prevents unauthorized webcam access.
Re:Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
by Godel_unicode on Friday July 10, 2020 @07:52PM
(#23798015)
Which, as I said, us hardware prevention. It stops someone from recording you, it also stops you from knowing someone tried to record you (i.e. hardware detection).
The hacking consequences I care about are having my bank accounts drained, not having my picture taken.
Re:Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
by gmantg on Saturday July 11, 2020 @03:22PM
(#23804982)
This is what audit records are for. Unless you expect the bad guys to respect your schedule, you won't be around to see the LED light.
Re:Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
by Godel_unicode on Sunday July 12, 2020 @01:45PM
(#23813168)
Google "rootkit". This is a great example of theoretical security vs actual security. In theory, people review logs on their personal machines and hunt for bad guys. In practice, virtually nobody has ever done that. The reality is that personal laptop compromises are discovered through side-effects. Heat, sluggishness, webcam turning on, accounts being hijacked.
> There's a reason Zukerberg's laptop has its mic and camera tapped up
This is an incredibly weakly phrased argument; there's a reason people are flat-earthers as well. The existence of a reason does not automatically make that reason a good one.
I actually take his webcam tape to mean that his security group (which includes people who have serious hardware chops) doesn't think that the investment in a better option is worth it.
Lastly, about that 0day argument. Many camera LEDs are implemented in hardware, which means instead of hardware prevention they have hardware detection. There are reasons for both, and neither is unambiguously better.