I am quite sure that many of us have issues about our privacy being held close to our hearts, and we would want to do our utmost best to ensure that our privacy is well guarded at all times. The FBI, however, begs to differ, as we come across word that they are more than capable of hacking into your computer so that they can access the webcam there in addition to other kinds of information without your prior permission. Of course, before this can happen, the relevant malicious software would need to be loaded onto your computer beforehand. It sounds malicious to us, yes, but to the FBI, it would be their “friend”.
Marcus Thomas, former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division, spoke to the Washington Post about this, sharing that the FBI have been capable of such action for years, accessing your webcam without triggering the light within it so that you would not know any better. Thomas did mention that such technology has been “mainly” used for terrorist operations or among “most serious” criminal investigations. I don’t know about you, but it might be prudent to just cover your webcam with a piece of cloth after reading this as you can never quite tell when your webcam would be the palantir for them to see how you look in the buff.