New OverSight Mac app released by Patrick Wardle

Oct 6, 2016 16:00 GMT  ·  By

Patrick Wardle, a renowned Mac security expert, has released this week a new app called OverSight that will alert users whenever malware, or other legitimate processes, try to access the computer's microphone or camera.

The expert says he created the app as a way to fight back some of the sneaky tricks malware is employing on macOS devices in order to spy on users.

He cites past Mac malware such as the Crisis, Eleanor, and Mokes families as potential threats that OverSight could stop.

Wardle says OverSight works at the OS level, constantly querying if another process is accessing the device's microphone and camera processes. If OverSight detects a process accessing these two components, it will show an alert on the user's screen.

OverSight also allows users to block processes from accessing the device's camera. Unfortunately, it cannot do the same for the microphone.

Additionally, OverSight can also detect a recent tactic employed by Mac malware called process piggybacking. Some malware use this technique to detect when the user is using their camera via another app, such as FaceTime or Skype, and then piggybacks on that process to access the video feed as well.

OverSight is not a replacement for a full Mac antivirus solution, but should be considered a complementary product. Installation instructions are available via the app's homepage.

OverSight notifications and settings
OverSight notifications and settings

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

New OverSight app released
OverSight notifications and settings
Open gallery