FBI can spy on you by turning on your webcam without indication

The Washington Post published a report last Friday (December 6) regarding the case of a terror suspect known as “Mo” who became a target of the FBI due to a series of bomb threats. Mo sent the agency pictures of himself in an Iranian military uniform and his threat targets included American universities and airports.

Mo taunted FBI officials via Internet chat, emails and VoIP-based phone calls. Unable to tap a physical phone or raid an address, the FBI created a hacker team to create a piece of software that could secretly hack Mo's email account and seize sensitive information.

By report of Opposingviews , Marcus Thomas, the former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico, Va., said FBI surveillance teams work much like hackers.

They gain access to computers through security weakness, sometimes through simple phishing scams. Clicking an unassuming link in an email connects the computer to the FBI at Quantico.

“We have transitioned into a world where law enforcement is hacking into people’s computers, and we have never had public debate,” Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Post. “Judges are having to make up these powers as they go along.”

Malicious software delivered to the computer can gather a wide range of information, including web browsing history and indicators that show the location of the computer.

Thomas said the FBI has been able to activate webcams, without turning on the record light, for several years. That technique has already been used in terrorism and serious criminal investigation.

The software, part of the agency's “network investigative techniques” group, can download personal information from a person's computer and even use laptop cameras to take photos without any indication to the user that recording is happening. Several courts have rejected the use of the tactic, saying that using the software violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.

Despite the wide reach of the program and its invasive nature, FBI authorities still have yet to nab Mo and the person may still be abroad in Iran or elsewhere.

You can read full report of this by following this link.