FBI Can Secretly Turn On Your Webcam
A new report on FBI surveillance techniques has revealed some interesting details on the hacks the Bureau is using to keep tabs on suspected criminals. Published in the Washington Post, the story covers the search for a man known as ‘Mo’ who is alleged to have made several bomb threats to authorities.
In the article, Marcus Thomas, who used to work at the FBI’s Operational Technology Division, admits that FBI software can covertly enable a laptop’s webcam without triggering a warning light. This kind of secret surveillance is only used in terrorism cases or the “most serious” criminal investigations said Thomas.
The FBI has been able to covertly activate a computer’s camera — without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording — for several years, and has used that technique mainly in terrorism cases or the most serious criminal investigations, said Marcus Thomas, former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico, now on the advisory board of Subsentio, a firm that helps telecommunications carriers comply with federal wiretap statutes.
