Many security experts are concerned about the possible privacy breaches that could occur through devices like webcams.<\/p>\n
Webcams have been around since the early 1990s, and many of these devices are vulnerable to unauthorised access, either due to a lack of built-in security features or negligent behaviour by the user.<\/p>\n
When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a picture<\/strong><\/a> celebrating Instagram reaching half a billion monthly active users in June 2016, observers spotted tape over his laptop’s camera and microphone.<\/p>\n Former FBI director James Comey was once mocked about putting tape over his webcam, but he pointed out that the approach was not as unconventional as people thought.<\/p>\n “You go into any government office and we all have the little camera things that sit on top of the screen. They all have a little lid that closes down on them,” Comey said.<\/p>\n If well-known security experts take these precautionary measures, it should signal a warning to general users.<\/p>\n Another warning sign should be the number of webcams which are unsecured and accessible by any other user connected to the Internet.<\/p>\n Research published by security publication Wizcase<\/strong><\/a> discovered 15,000 publicly-accessible webcams, some of which were located inside homes.<\/p>\n Using the devices’ connections to the Internet, a white hat hacker was able to view live video, edit settings, and manipulate feeds.<\/p>\n Wizcase listed how criminals can exploit these flaws in order to:<\/p>\n Furthermore, webcams exploits could potentially be used by governments to spy on the daily activities of citizens or to perform intergovernmental espionage.<\/p>\n All these possibilities make a strong case for covering your webcam.<\/p>\n One reason why webcams are vulnerable to attack is due to the need for users or manufacturers to access them remotely via the Internet.<\/p>\n A combination of network protocols known as UPnP then allows for access without high-level technical manual configurations.<\/p>\n This simplifies the setup process for the end-user, but makes the webcam vulnerable if not protected by authentication measures.<\/p>\n If you would like to ensure the security of your webcam, there are a number of measures you can take.<\/p>\n It is best to first change the default username and password of your Internet-connected camera – after which you can follow the steps below to secure your network:<\/p>\n You can also use online scanning platforms like Shodan.io<\/strong><\/a> to enter your external IP and check if your device has been exploited.<\/p>\n For added peace of mind, you can cover your webcam with a piece of tape, an attachable shutter, or other material when not in use.<\/p>\n For peace of mind, cover your webcam with a piece of tape, an attachable shutter, or other material.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":241638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[35,437,1185],"class_list":["post-325335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-headline","tag-privacy","tag-webcam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325335"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325335"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327895,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325335\/revisions\/327895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Thousands of exposed webcams<\/h3>\n
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Why webcams are vulnerable<\/h3>\n
Protecting your webcam<\/h3>\n
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Now read: Spike in violent house robberies in Joburg due to security weakness<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"