To think covering your work laptop camera is just paranoia?

I honestly don’t care about this sort of thing. What would they gain by watching me? They’d get bored in seconds

My laptop remote connects to my work PC. We also hotdesk, so when I’m at home, someone will be at by desk in the office.

If I click on the wrong settings, my teams camera connects to my desk and I’m effectively spying on the person sitting there- always confuses the hell out of me for a couple of seconds

So if I’m someone else’s desk, I always cover the camera now!

I wouldn’t scorn that possibility. Check out the eufy camera hack incident.

Shit companies making connected appliances and devices that are focused more on design and less on security are a problem for everyone. Like in the rest of the world: you get what you pay for.

I agree. Surely if a computer, phone etc were so easy to hack stealthily, you wouldn’t keep anything on it that a hacker could use? Financial information, logins, family details, photos, personal communication etc etc. The camera would be a very low priority for a hacker.

Obviously hacking does happen, but it’s usually data theft or ransom. You’re better off making sure the security is good - for the machine and for accounts - and that you take care with emails, attachments and what you come across online.

I suspect the camera covering is just one of those things that people can easily do and that gives a false sense of control, rather than provide any genuinely needed protection.

I don't have a laptop. I know Google listens to me through my phone because I can be chatting about something random, and Chrome recommends a website about what I've been talking about, even though I've never searched anything about the subject online.

So in your scenario, was your family member working on their company's laptop?

if so that's a security breach that they should have escalated to their IT security department.

i bet it was their home computer, not a professional laptop with a company firewall protecting that sort of security breach,

That sort of message would be blocked / filtered out by my organisation's security before it would ever reach my inbox.

im wondering if people are conflating security risks using their personal computer versus their work computer. If it's a work computer I'd be very worried about their organisation's lax security policies.

I use my laptop camera multiple times a day whether working from home or onsite and I can't imagine having to think about covering up my camera.

this thread is unfortunately 99% catastrophising with a smattering of truth. If people have to live their lives in such fear, I feel very sorry for you.

I’ve stuck a bit of blu tac over mine, just in case I accidentally leave it on in a meeting, I have one of those faces where I can’t hide what I’m thinking!

I cover mine. My laptop is in my bedroom, and I often work at night sat in bed in varying stars of undress.

Oh yes my green primark cardi has to be removed pre meeting!

Yep, I'm the same.

Does it matter? Why does it worry you so much that it's covered?

I had a family members laptop get hacked/pick up a virus a few years a go. How did we know? The start up changed to a locked screen with a picture of them taken from the webcam for proof they had access and a demand for money to 'fix it'.

There’s a scam where you receive an email saying that somebody has footage of you wanking over illegal images and unless you pay X then they will send it to everyone in your contacts. They claim to have the footage through your laptop camera

Yep. I get these not infrequently. However, I keep the camera covered AND even if not I couldn’t give a shit if someone released footage, people would just be bored senseless by me sitting there typing endlessly with resting bitch face. People must do gross stuff though as apparently some people actually pay😲.

And yes, one of my kids works in cybersecurity and apparently they are easy to hack, they told me to make sure I always have something stuck over it as a fallback to the shutter it comes with.

You don't have to be important, or in compromised situations for your webcam to be hacked. Believe it or not, voyeurism of people simply going about their lives is a big thing on the dark web. People buy live feeds of this stuff.

God no 😂 it was 5 years ago and he worked for me, he wasn’t a friend!

Yeah, YABU. Employers have been intruding on their employees’ privacy since they could. Lidl was done for having hidden cameras a few years back. In some parts of the world, employers use the laptop z cameras to make sure the employees are at their desks. Just because they shouldn’t do it without telling you doesn’t mean they don’t. Just means they haven’t been caught.

I imagine in few years, there will be more stories about employers violating the privacy of their employees after wfh became normal.

I work for a company in the security field and all our cameras have covers and it’s in our rule book to have them covered if not in meetings. I also have one on my phone.

My son aged 14 is perfectly capable of hacking and assuming control of both our internal cameras and doorbell camera 😂. Which gives me pause for thought about any form of camera that is permanently facing me and which can be controlled by someone remotely.

I’m not a paranoid type of person but I absolutely HATE being watched and so do shut the shutter on the laptop camera when not in use.

Also to avoid any embarrassing situations where I’m absentmindedly fishing out something stuck in my teeth etc during meetings. Yes, I know that we should work at home ‘as if’ we were in the office but I find it hard to be perfectly physically controlled and ‘always on’ in my home environment. Clearly not unusual because recently I’ve witnessed or heard:

• someone saying “for fuck SAKE” on mic when they thought it was off
• someone doing a full load of washing up while listening in on a teams meeting (albeit one where they had kindly agreed to attend during their lunch break for other people’s convenience so can’t blame them)
• another person’s naked partner walking into view behind them when they had their camera unnecessarily on, albeit thankfully blurred slightly.

I can’t work out if this is a joke around ‘gross’ but a thread about this has appeared…
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5294510-to-think-my-friend-deserved-to-be-sacked-for-taking-teams-into-the-loo?page=1
Was it you? 😂

The first thing both my sons did when they got laptops was tape over the cameras. They told me all their mates have gone the same.

I still remember the story of a woman who was watching TV while working and accidentally hit transcribe on a chat with her boss. It was something like Desperate Housewives and he got this long essay full of expletives - so funny 🤣

As an aside, for those saying who would care enough to hack your webcam when you're doing nothing...

I remember, probably about a decade ago, coming across a website which had thousands of live stream links. Most were of car parks and streets, there were some lovely ones of beaches in Australia and I sat and people watched for awhile. But amongst those there were links to steams in people's houses, I saw a woman sitting eating her dinner. I think this was more unsecured security cameras rather than hacked webcams.

However it does stick in my mind that just because there isn't a nefarious reason for someone to do something doesn't mean they won't do it.

I don't want to be out there on the Internet picking at a spot or itching my arse!

Don't need to be hacked by strangers. An ex with a bit of knowledge could have access.

My work computer (desktop) is in my bedroom, so yeah it's covered at all times unless I'm required to have it on during a meeting.