To think covering your work laptop camera is just paranoia?

[TealDreamer]

My friend always puts sellotape over her work laptop camera when she’s not using it or in meetings. I used to think this was a bit much but I’ve just discovered my own work laptop actually has a built-in shutter for the camera - so clearly, even manufacturers acknowledge there might be a reason to cover it.

She insists it’s because “you never know who’s watching,” and while I don’t fully buy into the idea that someone is spying on us all the time, I do wonder if there’s any real risk.

AIBU to think this is just a conspiracy theory or is it actually sensible to cover your webcam when not in use? Do you do it?

I have both my work and personal computer webcams covered up, the work one has a little slider to shut and my home one is a cut toilet roll sitting on it 😂

Well, I use my camera cover and a room divider because one my DC appeared in the background in a teams call (with senior leaders), in his underpants. He was just fetching something from the office but it still gets mentioned by colleagues now…2 years later

‘separate incidents’ made me laugh

I've always covered my camera since I saw Carrie Mathieson do it on Homeland. It's easier now that laptops have built in shutters.

Then again I also won't let an Alexa in the house and never set up finger print or facial recognition on my phone so I'm probably well past the middle on the scale when it comes to security consciousness.

It's not because I think I'm being spied on by my workplace. It's so that I don't accidentally join a meeting with all the laundry in the background.

I don’t have a built in shutter so I always cover mine and take it off whenever I need to be on camera for meetings. It might just be paranoia but I’m not taking the risk.

People have installed spyware to watch people through their webcams. Thomas Kwan did it to his mum’s. Out of the 1000000s of devices handed out through work how many are passing through the hands of perverts first. Tbf to Thomas Kwan, he’s a homocidal maniac, not a sex offender.

I watched an episode of criminal minds and after that I cover mine.

Am checking laptop in the morning to see if it has a sliding cover! I’ve never looked.

Is he the doctor who tried to kill his mum’s partner? I didn’t know he’d hacked the camera! Proper psycho he is.

Can phone cameras also be hacked?

Unfortunately, yes but I’m not sure how easy it is or if it’s as common as webcam hacking.

My work laptop has a little shutter on it that I use. I’m a teacher so my laptop is primarily for lesson planning with the odd teams meeting with external agencies or CPD training.

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.

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

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!

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 🤣

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 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? 😂

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.