2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
A sealed webcam peephole, incognito mode in the browser and constant scanning of the computer for viruses that can take control of the microphone or camera … Can you consider people who just want to be safe to be crazy? Let's figure it out.
Four years ago in the United States, the Internet related to the privacy of users flared up. Aaron's laptop rental company was accused of installing software on rental computers that allows them to monitor the device's webcam.
Aaron’s immediately tried to refute the information. The press service stated that the software is being installed to search for devices that have not been returned in due time. And everything would be fine, but the murderous evidence was provided by a married couple from Wyoming.
The family rented the laptop, and a few days later, Aaron’s collector arrived and tried to pick up the device and showed photographs taken by a webcam as evidence of its use. Later it turned out that the collector arrived due to an accounting error and the family could use the laptop for a long time, but the incident had already occurred and it could be used against the company.
On another case of peeping with a camera, user of the resource The Question Nikolai Schmidt:
After my friend connected to the cameras of all subscribers of one of the providers, having easily gained access, I always close the camera. It's cool, by the way, to watch the expression on a person's face at the computer.
P. S. He did not do this with evil intentions. It's just that the general director of the provider company is his friend, and my friend checked vulnerabilities. Well, he allowed himself a five-minute prank.
In general, there is reason to think that you may well be watched. And not just with the camera. Here are some ways to avoid this.
Webcam and microphone
The surest way to end surveillance through a camera is to seal the peephole with opaque tape. Let them consider you schizophrenic or crazy, but if you are in doubt about your privacy, spit it and find a piece of duct tape.
It's not that simple with a microphone. It can also be glued, and this to some extent will reduce the chance that you will be heard. But it might be better to use software.
For example, the Micro Snitch app for OS X is always active and checks in the background to see if any program has access to your camera or microphone.
There is a utility for Windows. It has similar functions, although it costs an order of magnitude more.
Unfortunately, these apps are not a 100% guarantee that you will not be listened to. Therefore, if you cannot trust them, physical methods will be more effective.
Location
If you have not turned off geolocation services, then your browser almost always knows where you are. You can turn off services in the settings, or you can trick the browser by telling it the wrong coordinates.
In Chrome, this can be done by pressing Ctrl + Shift + I and opening the developer tools. Then you need to press Escape to go to the console, open the Emulation tab and change the latitude and longitude coordinates.
You can do the same in Firefox, but with an extension. will tell the browser the coordinates that you specify.
Spy on the keyboard
Programs that can monitor information entered from the keyboard are in the public domain. Many of them are touted as a storage medium for everything you've entered, but eloquent names like Spy Keylogger clearly hint at the main purpose of such utilities.
An attacker only needs to gain access to your computer for a couple of minutes to install the utility. You don't even need to be a programmer to do this - even a student can figure out the interface of the program. Plus, there are more sophisticated ways to get to your keyboard without even physically touching your computer.
There are several ways to combat keyboard surveillance:
- Use the virtual on-screen keyboard. Since malware monitors keystrokes directly, this can work.
- Use abbreviations. For example, using standard OS X tools, you can assign abbreviations to phrases: if you enter the word "passwordnvc", this abbreviation will be replaced by the password itself.
The methods are not one hundred percent, so in addition to them, it is worth checking the computer with a couple of antiviruses.
On the one hand, this article looks like the ravings of a madman who considers himself an important person that everyone is following. On the other hand, I do not exclude the fact that there are quite a lot of people who can really be followed. Moreover, surveillance can be organized both for the sake of profit and for the sake of fun.
And don't forget about Hemingway. No one believed him when he said that he was being watched. It was only in the 1980s that the FBI declassified the writer's case and the fact of surveillance was confirmed.
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