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Mark Zuckerberg covered his laptop camera and microphone
A Palestinian hacker who said he had breached Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook
profile showed the page in 2013.
Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most powerful men in the world because
billions of people give Facebook, which he founded, free access to their
personal data.
In return, users receive carefully curated snapshots of his life: baby
photos, mundane office tours and the occasional 5K.
On Tuesday, observers were reminded that Mr. Zuckerberg, 32, is not just a
normal guy who enjoys running and quiet dinners with friends.
In a photo posted to his Facebook account, he celebrated the growing user
base of Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.
YTD provides best quality screen protectors making machines and manufacturing
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An eagle-eyed Twitter user named Chris Olson noticed that in the image’s
background, his laptop camera and microphone jack appeared to be covered with
tape.
Other publications, including Gizmodo, used the tweet to raise the
question: Was this paranoia, or just good practice?
3 things about this photo of Zuck:Camera covered with tapeMic jack covered
with tapeEmail client is Thunderbird pic.twitter.com/vdQlF7RjQt
3 things about this photo of Zuck:Camera covered with tape; Mic jack covered
with tape; Email client is Thunderbird.
— Chris Olson (@topherolson) June 21, 2016
The taped-over camera and microphone jack are usually a signal that someone
is concerned, perhaps only vaguely, about hackers’ gaining access to his or her
devices by using remote-access trojans — a process called “ratting.”
(Remote access is not limited to
ratters: According to a cache of National Security Agency documents leaked by
Edward J. Snowden, at least two government-designed programs were devised to
take over computer cameras and microphones.)
Security experts supported the taping, for a few good reasons:
• The first is that Mr. Zuckerberg is a high-value target.
“I think Zuckerberg is sensible to
take these precautions,” Graham Cluley, an online security expert and
consultant, wrote in an email Wednesday.
“As well as intelligence agencies
and conventional online criminals who might be interested in targeting his
billions, there are no doubt plenty of mischievous hackers who would find it
amusing to spy upon such a high-profile figure.”
• The second is that covering photo, video and audio portals has long been
a basic and cheap security safeguard.
“Covering the camera is a very
common security measure,” Lysa Myers, a security researcher at the data
security firm ESET, said in an email.
“If you were to walk around a
security conference, you would have an easier time counting devices that don’t
have something over the camera.”
”
Third, Mr. Zuckerberg is not immune to security breaches.
A recent hacking of his Twitter and LinkedIn accounts shows that he most
likely committed two basic privacy faux pas: He may have used the same password
across several websites and did not use two-factor authentication.
Judging from his photo, however, it appears that Mr. Zuckerberg was taking
simple precautions to protect himself from anyone who may try to gain remote
access.
The practice is fairly technologically simple: Hackers trick people into
clicking on links or unfamiliar websites containing malware that allows them
access to the devices.
Mr. Zuckerberg is not the only high-profile case: James Comey, the director
of the F.B.I., told students at Kenyon College in April that he also puts tape
over his computer’s webcam, for surprisingly simple reasons, according to NPR:
“I saw something in the news, so I
copied it,” Mr. Comey said. “I put a piece of tape — I have obviously a laptop,
personal laptop — I put a piece of tape over the camera. Because I saw somebody
smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera.””
People who are not billionaires or high-ranking government officials are
not without risk, said Stephen Cobb, a senior security researcher at ESET.
“For people who are not C.E.O.s, the
threat is people scanning the internet for accessible webcams for a range of
motives, from voyeurism to extortion,” Mr. Cobb wrote in an email.
Experts don’t have a good estimate for how often such attacks occur, but
according to a 2015 report released by the nonprofit Digital Citizens Alliance,
the practice is a growing problem for consumers, especially young women.
The report also said that trojans account for some 70 percent of all
malware.
“They’ve been one of the most
popular types of malware on every operating system, for quite a long time,” Ms.
Myers, of ESET, said.
“The best ways to protect against
them are to update all your software on your machine regularly, and use
reputable security software, including anti-malware and a firewall.”
Mark Zuckerberg Covers His Laptop Camera. You Should Consider It, Too.