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ch1ck3n.s0up
Troubled Loner



Registered: 10/03/08
Posts: 2,573
Loc: Hunting Fungi
Last seen: 2 years, 6 months
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Cameras on Laptops
#19281776 - 12/15/13 11:21 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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I'm getting a little suspicious of cameras on laptops.
I've heard that they can be activated without the user's consent.
I've put electrical tape over mine.
Am I being paranoid? 
-------------------- "Inspiration ~ Move me brightly ~ light the song with sense and color ~ hold away despair ~ more than this I will not ask ~ faced with mysteries dark and vast ~ statements just seem vain at last" --Jerry Garcia, Terrapin Station "Officer, I'm going to remain silent, and I would like to speak with a lawyer. I'm not resisting, but I don't consent to any searches.
Edited by ch1ck3n.s0up (12/15/13 11:27 PM)
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chowster
Happy Farmer

Registered: 11/20/13
Posts: 182
Last seen: 2 years, 10 months
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Slightly. I mean tape on the camera is so easy though, so why not right?
I'm not sure how to check, but I feel it would be hard to activate a camera without the indicator light going on. I mean you can't even disable that light if you wanted to.
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Humility
Working on it



Registered: 10/07/08
Posts: 6,745
Last seen: 6 years, 11 months
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: chowster]
#19282392 - 12/16/13 04:10 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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That's ridiculous. Coded instructions dictate when the light comes on and when it doesn't. Cameras don't need an "indicator light" to function, though the image may be less clear without background flash/lighting.
Definitely something to be worried about, especially considering the fix is so simple.
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist

Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 48,276
Last seen: 7 hours, 41 minutes
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: Humility]
#19283067 - 12/16/13 10:05 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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If someone hacks your laptop they can turn the camera on.
Whether it is possible to turn it on without the light coming on depends on the design of the camera.
Old laptops are a great source of tiny, cheap usb cameras.
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Herbologist
Grrratata



Registered: 05/09/10
Posts: 7,471
Loc: Casa Bonita
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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plenty of articles about FBI, NSA and other hackers tapping into all kinds of cameras.
it probly wont happen to you in your life time but that also doesnt mean it wont.
my girlfriend and I threw some tape up and turn the xbox kinect towards the wall when not in use
-------------------- Shroomery Law: Don't piss off the leftist mods & their friends!
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chowster
Happy Farmer

Registered: 11/20/13
Posts: 182
Last seen: 2 years, 10 months
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: Humility]
#19285914 - 12/16/13 08:42 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Humility said: That's ridiculous. Coded instructions dictate when the light comes on and when it doesn't. Cameras don't need an "indicator light" to function, though the image may be less clear without background flash/lighting.
Definitely something to be worried about, especially considering the fix is so simple.
Lol per computer model tho? No one is coding for all the computers models made.
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TiN 42
Be the tree



Registered: 12/15/11
Posts: 1,242
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: chowster]
#19285991 - 12/16/13 09:04 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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my newer computer doesn't have a indicator light been meaning to tape it. going to garage to get tape right now.
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MUSH LOVE
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ch1ck3n.s0up
Troubled Loner



Registered: 10/03/08
Posts: 2,573
Loc: Hunting Fungi
Last seen: 2 years, 6 months
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: chowster]
#19286050 - 12/16/13 09:23 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
chowster said: Lol per computer model tho? No one is coding for all the computers models made.
Honestly I have several laptops and none of them have indicator lights on the cameras 
For a hacker probably difficult; for The Man with the cooperation of Apple and Microsoft, I'm sure that it's piece of cake; a simple remote call to turn the camera on, pipe the results back through the 'net, and take a nice little secret peek inside peoples' homes. Mind-bogglingly simple.
I've seen stories about this... http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/12/pennsylvania.school.webcams.settlement/
Edited by ch1ck3n.s0up (12/16/13 09:31 PM)
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chowster
Happy Farmer

Registered: 11/20/13
Posts: 182
Last seen: 2 years, 10 months
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Funkay, all mine have lights.
Good to know. Maybe I prefer the light.
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Herbologist
Grrratata



Registered: 05/09/10
Posts: 7,471
Loc: Casa Bonita
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: chowster]
#19287907 - 12/17/13 10:25 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
chowster said: Funkay, all mine have lights.
Good to know. Maybe I prefer the light.
Doesn't matter. They can turn your camera on without any indicator lights turning on if thats what they want
-------------------- Shroomery Law: Don't piss off the leftist mods & their friends!
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist

Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 48,276
Last seen: 7 hours, 41 minutes
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Quote:
Herbologist said: Doesn't matter. They can turn your camera on without any indicator lights turning on if thats what they want
Citation needed.
I just looked at a laptop camera circuit board and it looked like it was wired so the LED comes on whenever the camera is activated. There does not appear to be any way to do it in software; you would have to take apart the laptop if you wanted to make that modification.
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Enlil
OTD God-King




Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 65,503
Loc: Uncanny Valley
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"The FBI has been able to covertly activate a computer’s camera — without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording — for several years, and has used that technique mainly in terrorism cases or the most serious criminal investigations, said Marcus Thomas, former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico, now on the advisory board of Subsentio, a firm that helps telecommunications carriers comply with federal wiretap statutes."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/2013/12/06/352ba174-5397-11e3-9e2c-e1d01116fd98_story.html
-------------------- Censoring opposing views since 2014. Ask an Attorney Fuck the Amish
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist

Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 48,276
Last seen: 7 hours, 41 minutes
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: Enlil]
#19290905 - 12/17/13 10:29 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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ch1ck3n.s0up
Troubled Loner



Registered: 10/03/08
Posts: 2,573
Loc: Hunting Fungi
Last seen: 2 years, 6 months
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Basically the same concept as turning on a phone's microphone remotely.
-------------------- "Inspiration ~ Move me brightly ~ light the song with sense and color ~ hold away despair ~ more than this I will not ask ~ faced with mysteries dark and vast ~ statements just seem vain at last" --Jerry Garcia, Terrapin Station "Officer, I'm going to remain silent, and I would like to speak with a lawyer. I'm not resisting, but I don't consent to any searches.
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JB76
Stranger
Registered: 10/14/13
Posts: 55
Last seen: 9 years, 5 months
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If you want to get freaked out, Google "Remote Access Tool"
It's not just the FBI and NSA who can get into computers and control them. Teenagers are doing it for fun. They spam out links that, if clicked, give them access to the user's computer without that user's knowledge. Then they start messing with the person by deleting files, playing scary or obscene videos, etc.
They watch the person's shocked and distressed reactions through the camera and capture the video so they can upload it and share it with friends for the lulz.
A RAT is astonishingly easy to deploy on someone who is not security savvy (i.e., the majority of people). You don't have to be a computer expert to do it, you could learn it in one day. Given that the US government can get a virus into an Iranian nuclear facility, it's a trivial matter for it to use a RAT. The obstacles would not be technical, but rather legal, economic, etc.
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JB76
Stranger
Registered: 10/14/13
Posts: 55
Last seen: 9 years, 5 months
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: JB76]
#19292778 - 12/18/13 10:50 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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luvdemboomers
loner with a boner

Registered: 01/11/13
Posts: 5,054
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: JB76]
#19295192 - 12/18/13 09:07 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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My camera has been hacked. Whoever hacked it displayed a video of me jacking off on my screen. I keep a piece of tape over it now. Jacking off knowing someone might be watching
Edited by luvdemboomers (12/18/13 09:10 PM)
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chowster
Happy Farmer

Registered: 11/20/13
Posts: 182
Last seen: 2 years, 10 months
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Quote:
luvdemboomers said: My camera has been hacked. Whoever hacked it displayed a video of me jacking off on my screen. I keep a piece of tape over it now. Jacking off knowing someone might be watching
Lol that sucks. They'd have lots of footage of me doing that if my desktop had a cam hooked in.
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ch1ck3n.s0up
Troubled Loner



Registered: 10/03/08
Posts: 2,573
Loc: Hunting Fungi
Last seen: 2 years, 6 months
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: chowster]
#19302117 - 12/20/13 09:55 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
chowster said:
Quote:
luvdemboomers said: My camera has been hacked. Whoever hacked it displayed a video of me jacking off on my screen. I keep a piece of tape over it now. Jacking off knowing someone might be watching
Lol that sucks. They'd have lots of footage of me doing that if my desktop had a cam hooked in.
Have we just discovered a new porn category here!?
Hacked webcam vids of people spanking their monkey to porn!!! 
a.k.a. "Hacking Off" for short--a portmanteau word combining "Squirting," "Hacking," and "Jerking Off!"
Whacking off to a vid of someone whacking off to porn! How ironic... file this one under /gif/ on 4chan!
Anyone here Japanese?
Technically speaking, we could also call it "Recursive masturbation."
Now, that's the value of brainstorming. 
(Maybe I need to get out more...)
-------------------- "Inspiration ~ Move me brightly ~ light the song with sense and color ~ hold away despair ~ more than this I will not ask ~ faced with mysteries dark and vast ~ statements just seem vain at last" --Jerry Garcia, Terrapin Station "Officer, I'm going to remain silent, and I would like to speak with a lawyer. I'm not resisting, but I don't consent to any searches.
Edited by ch1ck3n.s0up (12/20/13 11:50 AM)
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luvdemboomers
loner with a boner

Registered: 01/11/13
Posts: 5,054
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Quote:
ch1ck3n.s0up said:
Quote:
chowster said:
Quote:
luvdemboomers said: My camera has been hacked. Whoever hacked it displayed a video of me jacking off on my screen. I keep a piece of tape over it now. Jacking off knowing someone might be watching
Lol that sucks. They'd have lots of footage of me doing that if my desktop had a cam hooked in.
Have we just discovered a new porn category here!?
Hacked webcam vids of people spanking their monkey to porn!!! 
a.k.a. "Hacking Off" for short--a portmanteau word combining "Squirting," "Hacking," and "Jerking Off!"
Whacking off to a vid of someone whacking off to porn! How ironic... file this one under /gif/ on 4chan!
Anyone here Japanese?
Technically speaking, we could also call it "Recursive masturbation."
Now, that's the value of brainstorming. 
(Maybe I need to get out more...)
LOL
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chowster
Happy Farmer

Registered: 11/20/13
Posts: 182
Last seen: 2 years, 10 months
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"Hacking off" lol.
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Anonymous #1
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Quote:
ch1ck3n.s0up said: Technically speaking, we could also call it "Recursive masturbation."
A whole new programming technique!
Wacking off to someone wacking off to someone wacking off [...] to someone wacking off to porn.
Each level of recursion gives you more wacking off power. When you reach level 10 you become a master hackoffer.
LOL
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psyisK
[h]

Registered: 02/22/12
Posts: 16
Last seen: 2 years, 2 months
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You've gone tinfoil brother.
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Anonymous #2
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You probably are being a little paranoid, but that depends on your situation. You can have malware that will activate your web cams for example. Or if you're the target of a federal investigation, they could potentially activate it.
Electrical tape just prevents the video from showing up, but the microphone would still be recording :P
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Anonymous #1
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There's been some news stories that the government has been putting actual hardware into computers for spying purposes. I think that was even on Colbert.
One thing nobody's mentioned is that a speaker works just like a microphone. So even with no microphone someone could use your speakers as a microphone. Most audio chips now can route the signals around however they want, so this would be no problem to a skilled programmer.
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FreeTheSoul
The wonderer.

Registered: 01/04/14
Posts: 2,297
Last seen: 2 years, 2 months
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Quote:
ch1ck3n.s0up said: I'm getting a little suspicious of cameras on laptops.
I've heard that they can be activated without the user's consent.
I've put electrical tape over mine.
Am I being paranoid? 

I call that smart, not paranoid.
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JohnTheRipper
Registered: 01/20/14
Posts: 88
Last seen: 5 years, 9 months
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i have tape over my camera and disabled my inbuilt microphone, if someone wanted to they can capture video and audio from a hacked laptop.
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Shroomism
Space Travellin



Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
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A little paranoia doesn't hurt. Didn't read thread but it's well documented that the FBI and other agencies have been able to remotely activate your camera/mic without your knowledge or consent.
Also the NSA has been putting backdoor hardware mods and spy malware into new laptops and smartphones. http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/29/5253226/nsa-cia-fbi-laptop-usb-plant-spy
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Shroomism
Space Travellin



Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: Shroomism] 1
#19506714 - 02/01/14 03:36 PM (9 years, 11 months ago) |
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Obligatory meme
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Anonymous #3
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: Shroomism]
#19559997 - 02/13/14 01:35 AM (9 years, 11 months ago) |
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Idk if anyone here has had the cyber security child porn virus but it hacks your web cam and completely locks out your computer. I was using my laptop once when I had the feeling that someone was watching me I went to get tape and came back to a computer that was locked out and my camera was hacked I fixed the virus but since then I've kept 3 layer of masking tape over my web cam I'm not worried about the mic at all though.
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brian-trousers
intergalactic cat



Registered: 05/11/14
Posts: 66
Last seen: 6 years, 6 months
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I have blue talk over mine
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mandrin13
Stranger


Registered: 07/08/14
Posts: 1,111
Loc: Socal
Last seen: 2 months, 6 days
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Why would you tape it? I want them to see me walking around naked
-------------------- Even Jesus got stoned.
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TaiJi
Stranger in a strange land

Registered: 07/16/14
Posts: 148
Last seen: 9 years, 4 months
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Quote:
Alan Rockefeller said: Citation needed.
Edit: I just realized this was a really old post bumped.
-------------------- "If some study enlightenment, we study illusion. We seek medicine in the very poison that has seduced us. The mind, we say, is too much with us, so let's heap on some more. The left-hand work. Whatever." -Dale Pendell
Edited by TaiJi (08/22/14 09:27 PM)
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ch1ck3n.s0up
Troubled Loner



Registered: 10/03/08
Posts: 2,573
Loc: Hunting Fungi
Last seen: 2 years, 6 months
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: TaiJi]
#20521649 - 09/04/14 10:13 PM (9 years, 4 months ago) |
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That's OK... this post is still highly relevant.
-------------------- "Inspiration ~ Move me brightly ~ light the song with sense and color ~ hold away despair ~ more than this I will not ask ~ faced with mysteries dark and vast ~ statements just seem vain at last" --Jerry Garcia, Terrapin Station "Officer, I'm going to remain silent, and I would like to speak with a lawyer. I'm not resisting, but I don't consent to any searches.
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Stonehenge
Alt Center


Registered: 06/20/04
Posts: 14,850
Loc: S.E.
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As far as the legality goes, the govt does not worry about little stuff like that anymore. They just say the magic words "terrorism investigation" and its all good, no matter how big a lie it is.
I used to read about little old ladies who thought people on tv could see them in their homes. They were just a little ahead of the curve. Now the only ones who trust the govt are fools.
-------------------- “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.” (attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville political philosopher Circa 1835) Trade list http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/18047755
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gardenstate
Stranger

Registered: 12/04/13
Posts: 622
Last seen: 3 months, 11 days
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About 50 bucks can get you a fully undetected (no antiviruses detect them) RAT with abilities to access webcam, stored passwords, anything typed (keylogger), ect. They are incredibly easy to setup. As far as I know, all of the RATs I've seen still trigger the webcam light. However new RATs have been coded in java allowing them to infect mac windows and linux so keep an eye out be careful stay safe!
All that being said it would be entirely illegal for both the government or a civilian to do without the computer owner's consent, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
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Shroomism
Space Travellin



Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
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As if the government gives a shit what's illegal or not, the rules don't apply to them.
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gardenstate
Stranger

Registered: 12/04/13
Posts: 622
Last seen: 3 months, 11 days
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: Shroomism]
#20568949 - 09/14/14 10:20 PM (9 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Shroomism said: As if the government gives a shit what's illegal or not, the rules don't apply to them.
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asterical
despondent optimist


Registered: 09/13/14
Posts: 60
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Seen more an more people do this now, even the oldies are onto it since it came out that smartTVs were spying on people or something, ya know, for 'advertising' purposes...
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DeltaCepheid
Stranger
Registered: 10/09/14
Posts: 65
Last seen: 8 years, 1 month
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: asterical]
#20681497 - 10/09/14 07:28 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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Nothing is safe.
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PatrickKn


Registered: 07/10/11
Posts: 20,563
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My webcam was hacked before. Light kept going on. Eventually I caught on and flipped the camera off, and whomever was watching me proceeded to scare the shit out of my by taking control of my computer and making a scary pop up go onto my computer. I shut my computer off and wiped everything on my hard drive after that without even backing up my stuff. No regrets.
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist

Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 48,276
Last seen: 7 hours, 41 minutes
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Re: Cameras on Laptops [Re: PatrickKn]
#20682182 - 10/09/14 10:48 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
DeltaCepheid said: Nothing is safe.
That's not true - lots of things are safe. People who get hacked have terroribly insecure computers / never run updates, or don't understand computer security.
Regarding cameras on laptops, they can't see anything if you tape over them.
Quote:
PatrickKn said: My webcam was hacked before. Light kept going on. Eventually I caught on and flipped the camera off, and whomever was watching me proceeded to scare the shit out of my by taking control of my computer and making a scary pop up go onto my computer. I shut my computer off and wiped everything on my hard drive after that without even backing up my stuff. No regrets.
You could have just disabled your wireless card / unplugged the network cable, then back everything up and reinstall. No reason to delete all your data just because someone takes control of your computer.
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vatman
I'm Vatman

Registered: 04/17/14
Posts: 1,642
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I brake my cameras and so on. I don't use em so why need em?
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Anonymous #4
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Quote:
Alan Rockefeller said:
Quote:
DeltaCepheid said: Nothing is safe.
That's not true - lots of things are safe. People who get hacked have terroribly insecure computers / never run updates, or don't understand computer security.
That might be true for RAT's but I got the above mentioned "FBI virus", just from going to a single sketchy website. Everything was updated and I didn't download any software. It's like a pop up you can't get rid of. It seizes control of your webcam and you see a picture of yourself fapping, its unnerving. It tries to get you to send money to have your "file closed". I had to do system restore in safe mode to get rid of it. There have been people who turned themselves in thinking the warning was real, that blows my mind. Pretty sure police don't tell you that you are under investigation or ask for fees. RAT porn videos are a whole genre now. I did a little looking around and they love Acer laptops for the lack of a light. But you still need to click a link for them to get it on your PC, they don't actually do any real "hacking". The government OTH probably just has stuff installed when the thing is made. I heard a rumor about pedos driving around hacking wi fi's and watching kids webcams, but that sounds like a urban legend.
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist

Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 48,276
Last seen: 7 hours, 41 minutes
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If everything was updated, you wouldn't get hacked by just going to a website unless it was using a zero day vulnerability, which is extremely rare. No one is going to waste a zero day vulnerability on something like that.
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passifloracaerulea



Registered: 11/13/10
Posts: 10,485
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Good to know I'm not the only paranoid one when it comes to taping over the camera.
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Brian Jones
Club 27



Registered: 12/18/12
Posts: 12,342
Loc: attending Snake Church
Last seen: 1 hour, 58 minutes
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Quote:
Anonymous said:
Quote:
Alan Rockefeller said:
Quote:
DeltaCepheid said: Nothing is safe.
That's not true - lots of things are safe. People who get hacked have terroribly insecure computers / never run updates, or don't understand computer security.
That might be true for RAT's but I got the above mentioned "FBI virus", just from going to a single sketchy website. Everything was updated and I didn't download any software. It's like a pop up you can't get rid of. It seizes control of your webcam and you see a picture of yourself fapping, its unnerving. It tries to get you to send money to have your "file closed". I had to do system restore in safe mode to get rid of it. There have been people who turned themselves in thinking the warning was real, that blows my mind. Pretty sure police don't tell you that you are under investigation or ask for fees. RAT porn videos are a whole genre now. I did a little looking around and they love Acer laptops for the lack of a light. But you still need to click a link for them to get it on your PC, they don't actually do any real "hacking". The government OTH probably just has stuff installed when the thing is made. I heard a rumor about pedos driving around hacking wi fi's and watching kids webcams, but that sounds like a urban legend.
I read a story about some guy who got hacked by the fake FBI site. He freaked out and killed himself and his son.
-------------------- "The Rolling Stones will break up over Brian Jones' dead body" John Lennon I don't want no commies in my car. No Christians either. The worst thing about corruption is that it works so well,
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JohnTheRipper
Registered: 01/20/14
Posts: 88
Last seen: 5 years, 9 months
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Just make sure you also disable it and the microphone in the system settings along with the tape
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luvdemboomers
loner with a boner
Registered: 01/11/13
Posts: 5,054
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Quote:
JohnTheRipper said: Just make sure you also disable it and the microphone in the system settings along with the tape 
I had mine disabled (and software for it removed) and it was still hijacked. Pretty sure the only way to ensure your webcam can't be used is to disable it in bios. Someone put an admin password on my bios so I can't even do that. Tape works.
Edited by luvdemboomers (01/02/15 11:07 AM)
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Northerner
splelling chceker


Registered: 07/29/12
Posts: 14,146
Loc: FNQ
Last seen: 2 hours, 55 minutes
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No need to stick tape on your computer to cover the camera, that's like building a wall to keep your car in... lol
Just un-install the drivers for it.
PS: webcam cannot be disabled in BIOS. It's not a system device, it's a peripheral like a mouse or keyboard.
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The nearest we ever come to knowing truth is when we are witness to paradox.
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luvdemboomers
loner with a boner
Registered: 01/11/13
Posts: 5,054
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it can... er could on my hp laptop
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Northerner
splelling chceker


Registered: 07/29/12
Posts: 14,146
Loc: FNQ
Last seen: 2 hours, 55 minutes
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Must be a OEM BIOS... fair enough.
If you want to remove that password from your BIOS you just eed to remove the CMOS battery for 30 secs and put it back. Will reset the BIOS.
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The nearest we ever come to knowing truth is when we are witness to paradox.
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