I think my computer webcam may have been hacked

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So the last couple of days, my computer behaved weirdly, not going to sleep as it normally does (after a few hours of inaction) and also having that bright blue light on top next to the webcam. And I was completely oblivious as to what that meant until it finally hit me - the blue light means the webcam is on, of course. But I had not been doing anything that would cause the webcam to go on, other than Facebook chats which had been ended (and should have ended the webcam); hadn’t been using the webcam.

So I started to suspect - maybe it’s been hacked? Today, after a restart, the computer seems to be behaving fine, no more webcam shenanigans, but I am still concerned. Don’t want some hacker surreptitiously photographing/videotaping.
Seems like two possible things to me:

  1. Somehow the webcam didn’t shut off when it should have (ie., after having ended a Facebook chat with someone - it always shuts off like it should)

  2. Hacked;

  3. Something else activated it (but I hadn’t done anything that would activate it)

2

Take the webcam and attach it to a Raspberry Pi; place it angled right, run off a battery, in any cubicle in a public lavatory adjacent to free WiFi; write the webcam off.

3

Just stick a piece of tape over the lens

4

You really need to do something about your hair.

5

Scalphair or pubic hair??

6

Oooooh… shades of Black Mirror’s “Shut Up and Dance” :eek:

… must be the eyebrows :wink:

7

Tape over (or a post it) the webcam unless you’re using it. Don’t know if you were hacked or not, but it’s a good low tech fix for the problem.

You should probably run a system scan with the security software of your choice.