'Anywhere there's a camera, now there's a risk': Billions of users at risk of Peeping Toms — scientists devise incredibly simple eavesdropping system costing only a few hundred dollars
'Anywhere there's a camera, now there's a risk': Billions of users at risk of Peeping Toms — scientists devise incredibly simple eavesdropping system costing only a few hundred dollars
EM Eye can even capture camera feeds through walls
The method, known as EM Eye, can even capture images through walls, raising huge concerns about the potential for misuse.
The research, led by Kevin Fu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University, targets a vulnerability in the data transmission cables within most modern cameras. These cables unintentionally act as radio antennas, leaking electromagnetic information that can be picked up and decoded to reveal real-time video.
As reported by Tech Xplore, the vulnerability exists because manufacturers focus on protecting the intentional digital interfaces of cameras, such as the upload channel to the cloud, but overlook the potential for information leakage through accidental channels. "They never intended for this wire to become a radio transmitter, but it is," Fu explains. "If you have your lens open, even if you think you have the camera off, we're collecting."
Cross post from https://lemmy.world/post/12081766
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Are there people who don’t put tape over their cameras??
I actually use the cameras on pretty much all my devices, so disabling them would be a problem.
You don't need to disable them, just get or make removable covers. When you want to film, slip off the camera cover.
The article includes dashcams and home security cameras, I definitely cover those with tape.
No, unless you're actually somebody important, it's incredibly unlikely something like this is going to be used against you. So those covers are just more annoying than anything.
It takes no effort to do so and a lot of laptops even come with camera cover switches built in.
It does take a little effort at a minimum, however, when compared to the relative real world risk it's purely wasted. Unless of course, you're a politician or maybe important executive for a major company.
Keep your shit updated, ad blocking and no installing shady shit will lockout the lowest common denominator "hackers" (AKA script kiddies). All those scary articles about super advanced techniques? Yea, hackers with real skills can implement them and do some wicked shit, but they DGAF about Joe Schmo's jack off session, they're doing shit like targeting companies, politicians, celebrities etc things that can get them $$$$
It's pointless, it's security theater that you've imposed on yourself and yet I'm sure you've complained about the pointless and annoying TSA as security theater...
Oh so you're pulling the "I have nothing to hide because I'm just a normal boring person" argument. Guess you need a physical person stalking you for you to understand.
You're having the same mistake as the people who say "it doesn't matter because I got nothing to hide."
The point of privacy is that you have control over what you want to share with others vs what you prefer to keep to yourself, be it for legal, religious or personal reasons.
It's pretty disgusting how many people in this tread are actively promoting weak digital security practices with laziness as the justification and how little you actually understand about data theft.
Nice try, NSA!
Almost no one even understands how to take digital security seriously, and get angry when you try to help them.
I mean just look at your up/dowvote ratio.
Full disclosure: Am an IT professional with 3 decades of experience. Every camera device I have has a cover, either that came with the device, or one that I made.
Remember that huge fiasco with the schools that were spying on kids bedrooms at night?
Yeah, that tells you all you need to know about how trustworthy any camera is.
Putting tape over the microphone doesn't work very well.
well, if you want to see my ugly ass on the shitter or digging my nose without consent that much, joke's on you, i guess
How fucking naive
is it tho. if your phones cams are not coincidentally covered by tables or the fabric of your pocket, where are they pointing, genius?
for most regular people, like me, covering them is pointless. the security measures in place are not perfect, but sufficient. someone who goes over the top to circumvent them will find he just gets to see a regular person doing regular things.
There is a significant possibility that within the next 10 years any western nation can go full authoritarian.
You will laugh naively and say that it won't happen. And it is because of sentiments like this that we have a twice impeached fascist who idolizes shitler on the ballot for president later this year.
So can you imagine your country, with an authoritarian government in power with the ability to spy on literally every citizen?
Can you imagine that authoritarian government 'disappearing' dissidents based on their social media participation?
If you can answer yes to this, then you understand why it is CRITICAL to control every aspect of your identity exposure?
My phones front and back cams are covered with a clip until I want to use them. And that's not even the beginning of what I do to limit my online profile.
you're talking about the problems of a possible future, but taking non-preventative measures against it right now that are useless (for me and other regular people) right now.
if the dark future you're describing becomes reality, i will gladly put a sticker on my phones cam, so the spy in the hallway can't see your chin when you sit near my coffee table
The risk of exposure is great enough that if the chances were only 1% it would still be worth minimizing your online profile.
You can choose to wait until it is too late and I will have zero sympathy.