Protect your webcam and microphone

November 14, 2018

By accessing a computer’s microphones and cameras, hackers are awarded an open window into your life. They can spy on you at any time, without warning, recording your personal and professional footage. This information can be used in a variety of ways, but commonly, images and conversations from an individual’s private life are held at ransom, and subsequently released online to the world if the ransom is not met. Thankfully there are many free tools available online to combat these security concerns. Today’s download may be just what you need to prevent hackers from spying on your life through the camera on your computer.

Prevent a spyware attack on your computer

Whether you work for the NSA or you’re just an individual concerned about privacy, you should be taking steps to prevent nefarious actors from infiltrating your computer systems. One of the most insidious types of malware targets a computer’s microphones and cameras, recording what you say and what you see. This is where OverSight comes in.

OverSight

OverSight is a free monitoring program for the Mac that will protect your webcam or microphone against intrusions. Once the OverSight application has been installed it will appear at the top of the screen as a small umbrella icon. Even though the application will start up with the computer, it is always useful to see this icon and verify that protection is engaged. Clicking on this icon will bring up a menu of options: When an application attempts to access your microphones or camera, OverSight will prompt you with a message like this: Using the OverSight tool you can constantly monitor which applications can activate your microphones and cameras, and prevent malicious actors from eavesdropping on your conversations or spying on your life.  With the OverSight tool, users can also whitelist certain common applications. Doing this allows the application to automatically access your microphones or cameras without prompting you every time. Do this for applications like FaceTime that you trust and may use frequently. To download this free security tool click here or the download link below.

Bonus: Don’t let laptop spyware listen in to your conversations

Kim talked about laptop spying and a simple way to protect yourself in an episode of the Consumer Tech Update podcast. Tap or click below to listen.

Tags: computer, hackers, malware, Podcast, privacy, security