A few months ago, in a photo that Mark Zuckerberg published on his social network to celebrate 500 million Instagram users, we could see how the head of Facebook had both the camera and the microphone of his MacBook Pro covered. This photo caused controversy about the security of our computer when we connect to the internet. Covering the webcam has always been one of the security tips most used by experts to prevent anyone from entering our home without permission.
One of the top security officials in the United States, the director of the FBI, has stated that we should cover the webcam of our computer when we are not using it, at a conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It is not the first time nor will it be the last that remote spying through the computer's webcam has led to the intrusion of many users' privacy.
It was precisely Edward Snowden who sounded the alarm about the series of tools used by various countries to spy on the web. These tools called Gumfish and GCHQ allowed users to access the webcams of the users without them noticing, as well as activating the computer's microphone to know at all times what is happening in front of the computer.
Since the announcement of Edward Snowden, many large software manufacturers have been put to work to be able to fix the vulnerabilities used by governments to carry out this type of activity. Apple, Google and Microsoft rushed to release the corresponding patches to cover those security gaps.
Some laptop models offer us the possibility of being able to slide a cover to close access to it and that even if it is activated, it cannot see what is in front of it, but the microphone continues to remain open, which presents us with a solution to socks. The best thing to avoid these problems is to cover with the camera put a little seal, if it does not have a cover, orient it towards the wall and also deactivate the audio input through so that it is through the microphone jack and not through the integrated microphone in the computer.