At first glance, this picture does not look particularly controversial or even interesting. But if you look closely, there is something extremely important going on here. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, has placed a piece of tape over the webcam on his computer. It’s a remarkably low-tech solution to a fairly high tech problem, which is that hackers have figured out how to access the camera in your computer to spy on you.

The process of hacking a webcam is a bit too complicated to explain concisely here. If you are curious about the details, I recommend checking out episode 5 of the Hackable? podcast.

How you can protect yourself:

First and foremost, be skeptical of any link or attachment you receive in your email in box. If you get a link or attachment from someone you do not know, don’t click it! This is how they get you. If you have any question, contact the sender to make sure they actually sent the content to you before you click the link or open the attachment. Better safe than sorry.

Secondly, cover your camera! Zuckerberg’s low-tech and low cost solution works great! You can use tape or a post-it. If that is a little too boring or lacking in style, or you don’t want to have to rip a piece of tape from your camera when you want to use it, you can get a little slider device from etsy.

It’s a scary world out there when people can, in some cases, peer right into your bedroom through your computer camera. Fortunately, protecting yourself is fairly easy and cheap.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me at 773-632-8330 or patrick@loftus-law.com.  And finally, as always, I am honored by your referrals.  To learn more about my practice, please shoot me a line!  And if you are looking to buy or sell property, I would love to set you up with one of my fantastic real estate brokers.