In the news: Soon to be published, Skype back-door trojan code?

Tim ignored_mailbox at yahoo.com.au
Wed Sep 2 13:04:08 UTC 2009


On Tue, 2009-09-01 at 14:46 -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
> read on down the page where it's possible that Skype can remotely view
> and listen via your webcam.

That sounds like tinfoil hat rumouring, but I have seen something
similarly disconcerting, with flash on some pages:  While viewing the
odd page with flash on, I've noticed the "on" light for my webcam light
up.  Of course, I can't tell if that's just because a driver has woken
up something, or if the camera is actually sending.  But my flash
preferences were set to always deny access.

Unfortunately, this webcam is one built into my laptop, so simply
disconnecting is not an option.  I've opened up as much of the laptop as
I can without risking breaking bits, and I can't find a connection for
the camera.  So mine has tape over it, now.

-- 
[tim at localhost ~]$ uname -r
2.6.27.25-78.2.56.fc9.i686

Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored.  I
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