http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/23/technology/personaltech/mark-zuckerberg-covers-his-laptop-camera-you-should-consider-it-too.html 2016-09-18 19:44:15 Mark Zuckerberg Covers His Laptop Camera. You Should Consider It, Too. A photo of Mr. Zuckerberg’s laptop camera covered in tape had curious observers wondering if it was paranoia or just good practice. === Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most powerful men in the world because billions of people give Facebook, which he founded, free access to their personal data. In return, users receive carefully curated snapshots of his life: baby photos, mundane office tours and the occasional 5K. On Tuesday, observers were reminded that Mr. Zuckerberg, 32, is not just a normal guy who enjoys running and quiet dinners with friends. In a Other publications, including The taped-over camera and microphone jack are usually a signal that someone is concerned, perhaps only vaguely, about hackers’ gaining access to his or her devices by using Security experts supported the taping, for a few good reasons: • The first is that Mr. Zuckerberg is a high-value target. “I think Zuckerberg is sensible to take these precautions,” • The second is that covering photo, video and audio portals has long been a basic and cheap security safeguard. “Covering the camera is a very common security measure,” Lysa Myers, a security researcher at the data security firm ESET, said in an email. “If you were to walk around a security conference, you would have an easier time counting devices that don’t have something over the camera.” • Third, Mr. Zuckerberg is not immune to security breaches. A recent Judging from his photo, however, it appears that Mr. Zuckerberg was taking simple precautions to protect himself from anyone who may try to gain remote access. The practice is fairly technologically simple: Hackers trick people into Mr. Zuckerberg is not the only high-profile case: James Comey, the director of the F.B.I., “I saw something in the news, so I copied it,” Mr. Comey said. “I put a piece of tape — I have obviously a laptop, personal laptop — I put a piece of tape over the camera. Because I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera.” People who are not billionaires or high-ranking government officials are not without risk, said Stephen Cobb, a senior security researcher at ESET. “For people who are not C.E.O.s, the threat is people scanning the internet for accessible webcams for a range of motives, from voyeurism to extortion,” Mr. Cobb wrote in an email. Experts don’t have a good estimate for how often such attacks occur, but according to a 2015 “They’ve been one of the most popular types of malware on every operating system, for quite a long time,” Ms. Myers, of ESET, said. “The best ways to protect against them are to update all your software on your machine regularly, and use reputable security software, including anti-malware and a firewall.”