In my wicked and mis-spent youth - well, I was younger than I am now, anyhow - I used to break into computers around the world. I was not doing it for fun, but it could get pretty funny sometimes. I used specialized programs for maximum effect, and at that time I could ransack a hard drive and sift it for interesting nuggets of intel... but I could do so much more. I could turn on your web cam (they had no built-in webcams in those days, and it has gotten so much more dangerous now that nearly everything has a camera in it), I could turn on your mic and listen to the room, I could even do silly stuff like pop your CD tray out. I could take a screen-shot of your screen, and anywhere I clicked on it, it would click on YOUR computer right then. It came in handy for running programs the target didn't want running at that moment, and things like that.
I could even delete your entire operating system while it was running, make "Adios!" scroll across your screen, and then turn the computer off remotely... meaning that, since it had no operating system any more, it would not boot back up when the target tried to re-start it. That came in handy for knocking certain miscreants off the internet for some time, and ruining their best laid plans of world domination and what not.
I stopped doing that sort of thing years ago, but if I could do it then, I shudder to think what could be done now, with a computer, a tablet, a cell phone, a net book... anything that has all the intrusion hardware a spook's little black heart could desire built right in these days.
Yes, it's wise to cover the built-in webcam at the very least, or, better yet, pop the bezel off the screen of a laptop and physically cut the wires going to it. Mine sports a band-aid over it, because electrical tape is just too high tech for me. Covering the microphone (yes, all laptops have one now) only muffles it, and does not eliminate the sound. To eliminate 'puter eaves-droppers altogether requires opening the case and physically cutting the wires to the mic.Maybe a bitty gob of play-dough in the mic might do it. I dunno, I've not tried it.
Can't disconnect the mic on a cell phone, though, or it ceases to be a cell phone for two-way communication.
Note: Actually, I use a band-aid over the lens because if I ever find a use for the cam, I won't have to clean sticky gunk off the lens, because the pad part of the band-aid goes over the lens instead of the sticky part.
I could even delete your entire operating system while it was running, make "Adios!" scroll across your screen, and then turn the computer off remotely... meaning that, since it had no operating system any more, it would not boot back up when the target tried to re-start it. That came in handy for knocking certain miscreants off the internet for some time, and ruining their best laid plans of world domination and what not.
I stopped doing that sort of thing years ago, but if I could do it then, I shudder to think what could be done now, with a computer, a tablet, a cell phone, a net book... anything that has all the intrusion hardware a spook's little black heart could desire built right in these days.
Yes, it's wise to cover the built-in webcam at the very least, or, better yet, pop the bezel off the screen of a laptop and physically cut the wires going to it. Mine sports a band-aid over it, because electrical tape is just too high tech for me. Covering the microphone (yes, all laptops have one now) only muffles it, and does not eliminate the sound. To eliminate 'puter eaves-droppers altogether requires opening the case and physically cutting the wires to the mic.Maybe a bitty gob of play-dough in the mic might do it. I dunno, I've not tried it.
Can't disconnect the mic on a cell phone, though, or it ceases to be a cell phone for two-way communication.
Note: Actually, I use a band-aid over the lens because if I ever find a use for the cam, I won't have to clean sticky gunk off the lens, because the pad part of the band-aid goes over the lens instead of the sticky part.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’