14 DAY TRIAL // Security experts very often recommend users to cover their cameras with tape or anything like that, and because more and more laptop owners do this, PC makers themselves adapted to the change and equipped their devices with special camera covers.
Microsoft, on the other hand, doesn’t want to do this on its Surface devices, and in a recent interview with PCWorld, the company explains that such a feature would just be redundant on its PCs.
In case you’re wondering why, it’s because Microsoft has equipped the Surface with a dedicated light that comes on whenever the camera is activated. In other words, if the LED is on, the camera is enabled, so you’ll always be aware of the camera status.
Many are concerned that hackers could just take over the camera and mess with the LED in order to disable it and thus remain undetected on a compromised device.
Unhackable LED
But Microsoft says the LED itself is not controlled by software and is separated from the camera, so even if a hacker breaks into the device and gets access to the webcam, they still can’t disable the light.
“The light is not software-controlled. The light is controlled by the camera itself, which is detached from the system, which means if that light’s on, it’s sending data, period. It’s impossible for that camera to be on, without that light being on,” Microsoft explains.
“That’s one of the things that we felt was important for customers to understand when the microphone’s on.”
In other words, there’s little chance for the Surface devices to get a camera cover anytime soon, pretty much because it would be just useless. For now, Microsoft’s implementation seems to do the job, especially given the LED can be tampered with even if someone takes control of the computer.