Difference between revisions of "Webcams"

Revision as of 12:35, 7 April 2019

A webcam produced by the company Logitech

Recently the misuse of webcams has been highlighted in society. Webcams can easily be used in malicious manners, ranging from breachs of privacy to blackmailing. The start of the decade marked the beginning of webcams being hijacked by black-hat hackers. This has become so common that a term has been coined for this specific type of hacking: camfecting.^[2] The topic of camfecting has made appearances in popular media, having been covered by an array of TV shows and movies. Some of the most influential people in popular culture, especially in the area of technology, have also brought the topic to light.

Common Uses

Webcams have provided society with several revolutionary ideas such as being able to video chat with loved ones or make business calls. There is importance behind being able to see someone's face when you speak to them and webcams allow for that to happen. Webcams have given many people the ability to work remotely because they have have video conference calls and not feel as isolated from their colleagues if they are working from home. In terms of maintaining relationships with friends and family, webcams make this easier because people can speak over video chat and not feel as far apart. This is especially common with military families. In addition, webcams have been useful in the education sector as well. Many lecturers offer the option of videoing the lecture and posting it online for their students to either live stream or watch at a later date. Online training sessions and tutoring can be held through webcams too ^[3].

Interview Systems

Most recently, webcams have been used to aid the hiring process. Many large corporations have a prerecorded question and give interviewees thirty seconds to prepare and then record their answers. While this process may seem more efficient, it has it's own issues. Since the web system analyzes for body language, and facial expressions, the system flags people with uncontrollable twitches and other disabilities. This is being combatted by companies like HireView.HireVue used Value Sensitive Design when creating their application, in order to avoid biases that commonly occur with recruiting softwares. HireVue claims to be committed to retraining their AI to remove factors that lead to bias.

Outstanding Instances

Glasgow

In 2013, a student in Glasgow had her webcam compromised while watching a DVD while in her bath. The incident was brought to the attention of BBC Radio 5, whose live investigation uncovered many websites where hackers traded photos and footage captured via webcam. Some of these websites even sold them for profit.^[4] This incident in Glasgow not only raises ethical concerns about privacy breaches, but extends to unmoral and unconsented use of photos used to generate a profit.

Russian webcam live stream site

Russia

Webcams are being manufacturers into more and more products, resulting in diverse environments potential hackers could glimpse into. In 2014, a Russian website that had indexable categories of live stream footage from baby cameras to personal webcams was uncovered. Each stream was labeled with which country it was from, and the specific location from which it was being broadcasted. The website ran advertisements on the page for monetization.^[5]

Houston

In 2018, a hacker gained access to a webcam baby monitor in Houston, where he then began to spout “sexual expletives” and threats along the lines of “I’m going to kidnap your baby”. Similar instances were reported in different locations from cities in South Carolina, Minnesota, and Arizona.^[6]

Preventative Measures

Webcams

In order to prevent against attack, users may take a number of precautions in limiting the vulnerabilities that may exposed through the physical hardware on their devices. For external webcams, it is recommended that users only plug their device into a computer's USB port when it is actively in use. For internal webcams, simply securing a physical object in front of the lens to obscure the image when it is not in use is a reliable means of preventing attack as well. Furthermore, installing anti-malware software and setting strong, secure passwords on one's device can be an especially good precaution to take if the user has a built in webcam. This avoid users from downloading something else they didn't expect to download. Its optional to have webcam covers as well and to ensure notifications when webcam is being used - even without you using it. ^[7] As one can see, one doesn't have to be well known, a celebrity, or in a position of power for these incidents to happen to them. It's important that people know what to do limit their exposure from hacking via webcam.

References in Popular Culture

Black Mirror

The prevalence of camfecting has led to popular culture media referencing this phenomenon. A prominent example is the “Shut Up and Dance” episode of Black Mirror, Season 3. [SPOILER ALERT] In this episode, the main protagonist becomes a victim to camfecting while he is masturbating to pornography. The hacker uses footage captured in order to blackmail him into doing a variety of activities, such as robbing a bank and even engaging in a fight to the death of a stranger.^[8] The show raises a moral dilemma by revealing that the protagonist was actually viewing child pornography, making viewers ask the ethicality of humiliating someone via grey-hat, borderline black-hat hacking.

Scene from "Shut Up and Dance", Black Mirror

Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot is a widely watched TV show that covers camfecting. In episode 3, season 1, titled “eps1.2_d3bug.mkv”, one of the main character’s boyfriend has his webcam hacked into. The hacker records him and tells him that he has photos of his mistress.^[9] The hacker uses this as leverage, blackmailing the character into spreading malware into a company’s computer system.

Influential People

Apart from entertainment, some of the most influential people of this century, such as Mark Zuckerburg and FBI Director James Comey, have admitted to covering their webcams when they are not in use and are encouraging others to do the same.

Ethical Issues

Privacy

It is common for third parties such as Internet service providers, advertising companies, and security agencies to monitor the activity of internet users. Cookies, for instance, are one of the many avenues third parties will use to learn more about their users. However, due to prevalence of physical hardware such as webcams and microphones which can be found on most modern tablets and laptops, user's now expose a layer of physical vulnerability each time they unlock their tablet or open their laptop. In this way, the internet acts as a channel for hackers to exploit this vulnerability and gain access to a physical dimension of people's lives that was previously was not made readily available for hackers. For a malicious internet user, a webcam or a microphone may serve as the ideal channel through which they can perform spying. More often than not, hackers enter these spying activities with malicious intent, and users may walk away from an attack completely unaware that it had even occurred.

Hacking into a webcam in order to snap pictures from it, or even stream it live without the consent of the owner, has been shown to be accessible for even moderate technology users. With the help of plug-ins, such as Meterpreter (a dynamically extensible payload that uses in-memory DLL injection stagers) and access to Wi-Fi, a hacker easily is able to take over a webcam without much programming knowledge.^[10] Although most computers now have protective mechanisms that hinder this kind of intrusion, it is still very possible to remotely hack into a webcam. Even Apple laptops, which are notorious for being difficult to hack into, have been shown to be vulnerable to a webcam attack by researchers at John’s Hopkin’s, who demonstrated that it is possible to covertly capture images through iSight cameras on MacBooks and iMacs released prior to 2008.^[11] As of now, it seems that the only measure that is 100% foolproof is covering the camera itself.^[12] It is also widely believed that the National Securities Agency is able to and has turned on webcams as well as built-in microphones without triggering the indicator light.^[13]

References

1. ↑ “What Is a Webcam?” Computer Hope
2. ↑ “Camfecting” Wikipedia
3. ↑ “What Are the Benefits of Having a Webcam ” Chron
4. ↑ “'Horrified' Girl Spied on in the Bath by Webcam Hackers” BBC News
5. ↑ “Is Your Webcam Allowing Hackers to Peer into Your Home?” The Telegraph
6. ↑ “'I'm in Your Baby's Room': A Hacker Took over a Baby Monitor and Broadcast Threats, Parents Say.” The Washington Post
7. ↑ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/saltzman/2018/03/01/has-someone-hacked-your-webcam-heres-how-stop-cyber-snoopers/377676002/
8. ↑ "Shut Up and Dance." Black Mirror
9. ↑ "eps1.2_d3bug.mkv" Mr. Robot
10. ↑ “About the Metasploit Meterpreter” Offensive Security
11. ↑ “Camfecting” Wikipedia
12. ↑ “How Hackers Can Watch You Via Webcam | ODS Cybersecurity Services” ODS - Cybersecurity
13. ↑ “How to Keep the NSA From Spying Through Your Webcam” Kim Zetter

Bibliography

• “'Horrified' Girl Spied on in the Bath by Webcam Hackers.” BBC News, BBC, 20 June 2013, www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-22986017/horrified-girl-spied-on-in-the-bath-by-webcam-hackers.
• “About the Metasploit Meterpreter.” Offensive Security, www.offensive-security.com/metasploit-unleashed/about-meterpreter/.
• “Camfecting.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camfecting.
• "eps1.2_d3bug.mkv." Mr. Robot, season 1, episode 2, July 8, 2015. Amazon Prime Video.
• “How Hackers Can Watch You Via Webcam | ODS Cybersecurity Services.” ODS - Cybersecurity, 5 May 2017, opendatasecurity.io/hackers-can-watch-you-via-your-webcam/. Saltzman, Marc. www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/saltzman/2018/03/01/has-someone-hacked-your-webcam-heres-how-stop-cyber-snoopers/377676002/. Sparkes, Matthew.
• “Is Your Webcam Allowing Hackers to Peer into Your Home?” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 20 Nov. 2014, www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11242650/Is-your-webcam-allowing-hackers-to-peer-into-your-home.html. Wang, Amy B.
• “'I'm in Your Baby's Room': A Hacker Took over a Baby Monitor and Broadcast Threats, Parents Say.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 20 Dec. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/20/nest-cam-baby-monitor-hacked-kidnap-threat-came-device-parents-say/.
• "Shut Up and Dance." Black Mirror, season 3, episode 3, October 21, 2016. Netflix.
• “What Is a Webcam?” Computer Hope, 3 Aug. 2018, www.computerhope.com/jargon/w/webcam.htm.
• Zetter, Kim. “How to Keep the NSA From Spying Through Your Webcam.” Wired, Conde Nast, 3 June 2017, www.wired.com/2014/03/webcams-mics/.