Re:Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonst...
by axoltl on Wednesday November 27, 2024 @11:09PM
(#42262362)
Right, so this is all defense in depth. That LED is sort of the last line of defense if all others have failed, like:
The exploit mitigations to prevent you from getting an initial foothold.
The sandboxing preventing you from going from a low-privileged to a privileged process.
The permissions model preventing unauthorized camera access in the first place.
The kernel hardening to stop you from poking at the co-processor registers.
etc. etc.
If all those things have failed, the last thing to at least give you a chance of noticing the compromise, that's that LED. And that's why it stays on for 3 seconds, all to increase the chances of you noticing something is off. But things had to have gone pretty sideways before that particular hail-mary kicks in.
The exploit mitigations to prevent you from getting an initial foothold.
The sandboxing preventing you from going from a low-privileged to a privileged process.
The permissions model preventing unauthorized camera access in the first place.
The kernel hardening to stop you from poking at the co-processor registers.
etc. etc.
If all those things have failed, the last thing to at least give you a chance of noticing the compromise, that's that LED. And that's why it stays on for 3 seconds, all to increase the chances of you noticing something is off. But things had to have gone pretty sideways before that particular hail-mary kicks in.