Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230

Re:Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonst... by eggy on Wednesday November 27, 2024 @09:17PM (#42261794)

Turning off camera LEDs and recording video is an old hack and old news. This is for a specific firmware and computer model and attack surface via USB to update the webcam's firmware, so I am assuming that makes it news?

EDIT: I keep a piece of black electric tape over any of my notebook's webcams.

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Re:Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonst... by nicce on Wednesday November 27, 2024 @09:38PM (#42261915)

Many assume that led indicators are tied to hardware rather than firmware. And this just proves that it is still not always the case.

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Re:Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonst... by teppix on Thursday November 28, 2024 @07:58AM (#42264915)

> Turning off camera LEDs and recording video is an old hack and old news.

This.

Some of the linux webcam drivers drivers have had the option to specify the behavior of the LED via a parameter since way back, including turning it completely off.

I remember this was the case ~20 years ago.

One example (look for the led-option) https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.1/media/v4l-drivers/phili...

This is straight from the documentation:

"But with: `leds=0,0`the LED never goes on, making it suitable for silent surveillance"

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Re:Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonst... by peishang on Friday November 29, 2024 @10:04PM (#42279052)

Same - I use a folded playing card but since the machine's docked it works in the unlikely event that I need to use it.

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