--Originally published at Diego's Password
So is this blog post telling me that someone can access to my webcam without me noticing it? I don’t think so; I have a mac and they’re pretty safe. Covering your iSight camera is just too paranoiac.
I used to think that too. I also used to think that if someone accessed to my camera, the green led that lets you know if it is in use would eventually turn on.
Lets talk about malware first. We all know what is it; a peace of software that runs without the user noticing it and making of course bad things. There are a lot of different kinds, so lets dive into it. The most common malware on the internet are trojans. The name Trojan horse comes from Homer’s Odyssey, which supposedly was a really nice present, or at least that appeared, but from the inside it was full of warriors. That is exactly wat a trojan is. It is a program that appears to be really nice to the user, but in reality it is full of malware.
The next type is a well heard virus. This kind of malware is characterized for it’s spreading abilities. When a user executes the virus, it reproduces it self infecting other peaces of software inside the machine. It is similar to a worm, but the worm travels through internet, anreven more dangerous it executes without the need of the user. That is why they can be multiplied that quickly.
There are other kinds of malware, like adware, backdoor and spyware, which I want to focus this blogpost. Adware is just like the other ones but instead of trying to steal information or just create vandalism, it locates ads in your browser or elsewhere. On the other hand backdoor malware can be really dangerous, cause
Spyware. This is a topic that I was really curious about. I always wonder if people who cover their front webcam were paranoid, and probably they are but do they have a real reason? I found out that there are a lot of ways of accessing a mac webcam. Almost all of them require some physical access to the host machine. For example, in one particular case you would need to install or somehow put a peace of software, usually hidden, in the computer. This program would just be a shortcut to the Photo Booth application shooter, so at this point nothing strange is going on. The next step would be to install and start an SHH service, I think we all know where this is heading. With everything install and running, the hacker accesses to his computer, connect to the host one, and run the software. After successfully running it he simply can send the new picture to himself. This method is not clever at all, cause with that level of access to someones computer, the hacker could just get anything else with much more value, cause with an SSH connection he would already have a backdoor malware.
The second method that raised my attention was Spycam for Mac. It is a completely legal application, but I don’t know if it would be categorized as spyware. This software lets record the main user certain lapses of time depending on some situations. At the end it is meant to record on the users computer, but when the user is not using it. For example you could set a record lapse when someone tries to access your computer and the authentication failed, or when certain program is opened.
With the investigation needed for this post, I found out how easy it is to at least access to the webcam without the green led notification, that at least is scary for me. I didn’t dive into Windows methods, but I’m pretty sure it would be much more easier.
Concluding, people who cover their webcam, are smart people.
