Dell Adding Hardware Privacy Driver For Linux

[elatllat]

I'm way more concerned about the data on my laptop then whatever may be available through the camera or microphone.

[Dovi]

Tappity-tappity...tappity-tappity. <Send>.

Done (I asked for a pony too).

As a matter of interest, why do you think it is unreasonable to ask for such things, which enable improved user privacy and control?

😁

I was kidding, I find your requests to be really interesting. I agree that they will provide a more robust security.

[CochainComplex]

If it can be controlled through software, it ain't secure enough.

Some newer Dell Notebooks (e.g. Precision 74XX) have a mechanical slider over the builtin webcam - at least the cam is then blocked by a physical piece of plastics.

What I dont get is why a killswitch by software is needed for a microphone.
There is almost nothing easier then just put a switch between the capacitor microphone and the board. Maybe it needs to be figured out how to reduce some parasitic induct/cap of the switch but it is fool proofed and can not be hacked. Maybe one has not a shiny GUI indicator in the os but well would be the most secure one.

OT.: the first thing I did when I have recieved an Amazon Prime stick with the newer Alexa remote. I dont trust them with the software mute so I have opened the remote located the mic and treated it with my pliers. But I have to tell you they really try hard to not let you open that remote. Everything glued and onetimeclipped. However Pliers won.

What I fear for the future is: Small ceramic or film capacitors are microphonic - means vibration will alter the capacitance so they act like a capacitor microphone. If you are a skilled Amazon/Google engineer (and they are) it might be possible to filter some Voltage ripples over the whole board to pick up noises from the environment.

[kpedersen]

it might be possible to filter some Voltage ripples over the whole board to pick up noises from the environment.

Didn't they do a similar proof of concept using the hard disk as a microphone by detecting small changes via the heads? Can't quite find the article. It was either IEEE Spectrum or The Register.

[CochainComplex]

Didn't they do a similar proof of concept using the hard disk as a microphone by detecting small changes via the heads? Can't quite find the article. It was either IEEE Spectrum or The Register.

Possible - I only have seen a viral Youtube vid of an server admin shouting at some hdd drive array and it was altering the performance.

found it: But I was always wondering - fake or real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDacjrSCeq4

[ix900]

I don't want a 'privacy button'. I want a switch that disconnects the power and data connections to the camera and a separate switch for the microphone. Preferably with a transparent cover so I can see the connections are discontinuous. It's fine if the PC can sense the state of the hardware switch, but the hardware disconnector should not be under software control. And while we are adding some switches, I'd like a hardware switch to disable writing firmware.

Old Grouch, you might as well jump on it. You will know when it isn't connected

[Old Grouch]

Didn't they do a similar proof of concept using the hard disk as a microphone by detecting small changes via the heads? Can't quite find the article. It was either IEEE Spectrum or The Register.

This kind of stuff is the staple of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Cyber Security Research Center. So a quick Internet search with keywords "Ben Gurion Hard DIsk microphone" gave me an article with a link to the paper on arxiv.org:


DiskFiltration: Data Exfiltration from Speakerless Air-Gapped Computers via Covert Hard Drive Noise

Edited to correct.
The above is wrong: it refers to the use of the Hard Disk to exfiltrate information as a kind of audio transmitter, not receiver.

The previous writer (kpedersen) was correct in referring to an IEEE paper

IEEE: Hard Drive of Hearing: Disks that Eavesdrop with a Synthesized Microphone ( DOI: 10.1109/SP.2019.00008 )

Nonetheless, the Ben Gurion Cyber Security Research group do some interesting stuff.

[microcode]

Weird that they choose to drive the LEDs with software, that seems like an obvious flaw in this design.

[schmidtbag]

Some newer Dell Notebooks (e.g. Precision 74XX) have a mechanical slider over the builtin webcam - at least the cam is then blocked by a physical piece of plastics.

Yup - the Lenovo laptop I'm provided by my workplace also has a mechanical slider. Pretty failproof method while being incredibly simple. I may be a tech enthusiast, but technology for the sake of technology is always dumb.

What I fear for the future is: Small ceramic or film capacitors are microphonic - means vibration will alter the capacitance so they act like a capacitor microphone. If you are a skilled Amazon/Google engineer (and they are) it might be possible to filter some Voltage ripples over the whole board to pick up noises from the environment.

Yeah, maybe that's possible. But that seems rather desperate of them, and for what? They already have your data - they don't need to listen to you to collect anything incriminating or personal.
If I cared about Google and Amazon collecting my info, watching me, and listening to me (which I don't) then the best thing to do is to simply avoid their services (which for the most part, I do).

[edwaleni]

If people would start putting their clothes back on in front of their computer, better yet, stop having sex in front of it.............