If a hacker had access to your smartphone’s cameras right now, what would happen? Many people tape the camera on their laptop just to be safe, but don’t do this on their phone. Is it smart to do this anyway?
Tape the camera on your phone
It was big news a few years ago. In a video, which has been seen millions of times, hacker Kevin Mitnick explains how to remotely turn on a smartphone’s camera. According to Mitnick, who is better known in the hacking world as Condor
, it’s pretty easy to get this done. However, two conditions must be met.
First, the hacker needs physical access. In other words: he or she must have the smartphone in their hands. Second, the burglar must know the password or PIN to be able to crack the lock screen.
This is obviously much easier said than done. Mitnick acknowledges that hacking smartphones remotely is much more difficult, but certainly not impossible. According to the famous hacker, national governments are throwing billions into advanced software that makes it possible to take over telephones remotely.
Sounds scary, doesn’t it? However, this news did not mean that people nowadays walk en masse with stickers over their selfie camera, as happens with the webcams on laptops. Whether that’s smart behavior depends on who you ask.
‘False sense of security’
” width=”192″>‘People who tape their cameras give themselves a false sense of security’, says Steven op de Beeck in conversation with PC Active According to the software developer, masking (telephone) cameras is mainly symptomatic. a password manager. Also turn on two-step verification where possible and be careful with apps you install,” says Op de Beeck.
All good tips where Vinc ent Böhre can agree with. The lawyer and director of Privacy First, a foundation that is committed to preserving and promoting the right to privacy, says that you should above all take basic measures for your (online) security and privacy.
Privacy by design
Böhre does think that it is still smart to tape off your phone camera. ‘What people often underestimate is that you reveal quite a lot about yourself with camera images, such as location data.’ This information can, for example, be used by potential burglars to see when you are and when you are not at home.
According to the privacy advocate, however, the danger lies not so much with burglars, but with governments. Böhre indicates that the legal powers of security services are becoming increasingly broader.
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In 2019, for example, the “Computer Crime III” Act became active. This has given the police much more powers to hack into devices, including smartphones’ cameras.
Time to tape these off, according to the director of Privacy First. Because masking a camera looks anything but elegant, covers are now available with a slide for the (rear) camera. The disadvantage of those protective covers, however, has again to do with design: they often look a bit bulky.
Böhre hopes, however, that the emergence of such covers will ensure that manufacturers may equip their devices with such a ‘camera mask’ as standard: privacy by design. Not only does this increase user privacy, but it also gives phone makers the opportunity to differentiate themselves more from competitors.
A sense of calm
” width=”192″>Back to Van de Beeck. The software developer points out that as soon as hackers have access to your phone, the problems really start. your internet banking, stealing passwords or making your device completely inaccessible are things that are slightly worse than taking a picture when you happen to look at the camera.’
Summary: is it necessary to from your camera?For most people the answer is okay no. Before hackers can gain access to your camera, your smartphone must first be infected with a virus, such as malware.
You can avoid this by not clicking on suspicious emails and links, a use a good password manager and as much as possible to enable two-step verification. Furthermore, it is important to always pay attention and, for example, only download apps from the official Google Play Store.
On the other hand: when taping the phone camera gives you a feeling of peace then why would you stop doing it? Please continue with it. Just make sure that this isn’t the only way you’ve protected your phone.
Secure your smartphone
The whole month of January is Android Planet in the spirit of privacy and security. For example, we explain whether your Android smartphone has a virus scanner,
(Jan 18)
(Jan 13) Like this you can easily and quickly check whether your account details have been stolen (Jan 13) Does your Android phone need a virus scanner? (Jan 12 )
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