Cover the camera on your computer devices … prevent online snoops!

Almost every computer device that you have today — laptop, tablet, desktop and smartphone — is equipped with a camera and a microphone to support your online participation in both videos and audio communications with others. Video and audio capture is also becoming more common to confirm your identity in allowing access to accounts and physical facilities.

Cameras and microphones can become a problem because hacking into them is one of the easiest targets for those who originate computer malware. Hackers can turn on your camera and/or microphone, without your knowledge, and watch and listen to everything you do via the Internet.  Not good!

To defeat their attacks, just cover the camera and microphone jack with a small piece of electrical tape and remove it only when you are using the camera and/or microphone.

Who is doing this tape trick? Everybody. Go to a computer security conference. You will find that counting the participants who do not have tape over their cameras and microphones will be a much shorter list than counting those who do have tape on their devices.

Here are some links that might help convince you to cover your device’s camera and microphone.

• Even Mark Zuckerberg covers his camera
• Meet the Men who Spy on Women through their webcams