I’ve always wondered this.
And if the answer is yes, has it been done, and what was the virus called?
Considering these clever bastards can do just about anything, I thought this would be possible… but I’ve never had it confirmed.
Yes, there are many trojans and viruses that can do this.
I remember when Sub7 (a popular trojan) came out back in '99 the ability to capture webcam footage was one of the most talked about features.
That is why there is always masking tape on my cam.
so is there a website or some place to go to see these candid photos of these poor people sitting there working on their computers without knowing their picture has been taken?
I put something on my webcam for this possibility, but I thought I was being kind of paranoid. I guess I wasn’t.
But now, my curiosity is up. Is showing a pic like this against the law? Could a website of pics be posted legally?
I found an article on it if you’re interested
There was a school district that used software to remotely turn on webcams of students at home using borrowed school laptops. Not exactly a virus, but something to consider. The district got busted.
There was a lot of news coverage a while ago about a high school that supplied laptops to all their students, and the supplied software included a way for school officials to secretly turn on the camera remotely and monitor (& record) the images.
So … remotely turning on the camera on a laptop as it sits in the bedroom of teenage boys, and recording the video – what idiot dreamed up that ‘feature’? And what pedophile institution had he previously worked at?
When this was exposed, the parents got royally mad. And the lame excuses given by school officials as the educational purpose for this ‘feature’ just got parents madder. I believe the school is still fighting the lawsuits over this.
Here’s a link to the good sized Pit thread the school case was discussed in.
Wow.
I must have forgotten about this case because it was in the news fairly recently. The link that mil0 provided was even more disturbing in the overall picture of things. A peeping tom virus. This was exactly what I was thinking when I asked the question.
Thanks for the link, Der Trihs. I find this behavior by the school despicable, and I hope they get screwed royally for it. That’s just creepy. In fact, the whole thing is creepy. I wonder how many poor people were unlucky to get caught in a not so flattering situation? And what would happen if the peeping tom saw and posted illegal activity, like a drug transaction?
The school district debacle is what immediately sprang to mind when I saw this thread title, but that’s a bit different. Who knows what it is on a computer that is not yours? What mil0 posted to creeps me the fuck out. Somehow it came up during conversation once that my laptop has a webcam built in. My friend asked if I ever cover up the camera when I’m using my comp. I said no, the webcam isn’t on. Then she asked if I were ever afraid that someone might be doing something malicious that allows him to see me.
I said no…
My webcam has a light that goes on when the camera is working. I never gave it much thought but I would hope that the light is hardwired to turn on when the camera is powered up as opposed to software controlled.
I’d like to think that even if I were to get a virus or something that could remotely turn on my camera that the light would come on and let me know something’s going on.
My laptop has a webcam built-in, which can be turned on by a variety of things you might not think would do so. Think for a second how buggy software is, and how little people actually know about all the options and functions in software packages…
I was teaching an online class a few months ago to a hundred or so people, and to do this I had to install some net meeting thing on my laptop - the intent was only to be able to share my Powerpoints and notes as I spoke. Suddenly, about 2 minutes into my lecture, I noticed my camera light was on. I stopped and asked the facilitator “Hey…why is my laptop camera on?” and they said “Oh, um, I just thought some people in the audience might want to see you when you lecture”, something which I had explicitly, in writing, said was not acceptable.
However, it didn’t avail them anything, as the very first day I got my new laptop at work I put a piece of black electrical tape over the camera, and there it remains.
I also have noticed on a few, random occasions my camera light will turn on during the day at work, then turn off after a short while. When one of my best friends at work was one of the head IT people, I saw how the PC support people would continuously, during the day, use their Admin rights to snoop around on people’s PCs for fun when they were bored. I was actually cc’d on mails where one of them would be laughing to others about how they were “just looking around” someone else’s computer and found pictures of their girlfriend nude, etc. So I have no doubt whatsoever that through the day our bored support staff are browsing around computers, probably looking for “hot” girls.
Quoth MeanOldLady:
Given that there exist vira which will allow an attacker to run arbitrary code on your computer, and given that there exist ways to “legitimately” turn the camera on remotely, it logically follows that there could be a virus which turns the camera on remotely.
And everything I’ve read about that high school case says that the camera indicator lights did turn on when used, and that some paranoid (or maybe just sensible) students covered it with tape for that reason, but that most just ignored the light.
I’ve never heard “vira” before. Is that the latest contribution to the “What’s the plural of virus?” debate (the answer to which was, I thought, viruses or, if you like, viri)?
I think if I worked at this place, I’d be sure to drop my wireless connection or pull the ethernet cord when the internet/intranet wasn’t needed.
True, but I’m less disturbed by the idea of being spied on while using a work computer, or any other device owned by someone else that I am borrowing/using. For whatever reason, my paranoia isn’t set off by knowing you can monitor me with your computer you gave me; it is set off knowing you can watch me using my computer, that you have never touched or seen. I don’t know, perhaps because my thought process is it should be easier for you to monitor me remotely while using your comp, as there may be “legitimate” (and legitimate – no quotes) reasons to be able to activate a camera on your own device remotely. What legitimate, quotes or otherwise, reason is there to activate someone else’s pc camera remotely? Seems like that should be difficult and rare. So the one strikes me as shady people using maybe-legitimate software shadily (still creepy), and the other just totally unnerves me.
I wonder how common this is? I’m assuming not very, but you never know.
I don’t have the thread handy, but as I recall the consensus on this very message board was that if you were to remain true to the rules of Latin, the plural of virus would be…virus.
// not a Latin expert.
I’d worry more about being hit by a meteorite than this.
Pssh. That asteroid isn’t going to crash into Earth until 2017. People might be spying on me right now!
For all questions of the form ‘can a hack make my computer…’ the answer is yes if its anything your computer is capable of. That doesn’t mean there is some existing virus to do it, but there could be. If you don’t really understand computers and software, thing of it like this question: Can someone who has the keys to my car drive it?