A new study found that the MacBook and iMac models produced before 2008 are able to activate their cameras without the user knowing it.
According to The Washington Post, researchers from the Johns Hopkins University released evidence that computer cameras can be remotely controlled without the user’s knowledge. While the study focused on MacBook and iMac computers released in 2008, the researchers said that the hacking techniques could also work on recent models carried by many vendors, not just Apple. Simply put, as long as a laptop has a built-in camera, then it is susceptible for hacking from an outside entity.
Stephen Checkoway, a computer science professor at the John Hopkins University explained that built-in cameras on Apple devices were designed to prevent this but they have found a loophole in the form of several chips in the computer.
Twitter’s security expert, Charlie Miller said: “There’s more than one chip on your computer. There’s a chip in the battery, a chip in the keyboard, a chip in the camera. ”
Researchers found a way to reprogram the chip controlling the camera, called the micro-controller, to get around the security feature. Checkoway’s team showed the technique how to reprogram the iSight’s camera chip to allow the camera to be turned on without activating the light.
Attacks on computer’s microcontrollers are becoming more and more prevalent. According to Miller, not just cameras are targeted by attacks like these. In the recent years, microcontrollers of Apple batteries were hacked, causing the batteries to be drained rapidly. Another research showed how an Apple computer’s built-in keyboard was made into a spyware using the similar technique.
Interest on these new findings increased when Ms. Teen USA Cassidy Wolf received nude pictures of herself sent to her email by an anonymous person. It turned out that her computer’s camera was compromised and the hacker is using her photos to blackmail her. Her perpetrator, 19-year old Jared Abrahams was apprehended by the the U.S Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Abrahams pleaded guilty to extortion.
