Exceptional stability, management and security With an ultralong product lifecycle, the Dell OptiPlex XE2 significantly simplifies desktop administration and planning. New Hard Drive in Old Computer Reinstall system software Do I need more than one DVDCD drive Computrace absolute software Dvdrw drive not detected in software. Computrace Software' title='Computrace Software' />Many ways to activate Webcams sans spy software. The Webcam spy case in the Lower Merion School District near Philadelphia has raised concern as to whether others with Webcams are vulnerable to remote spying. The school district admitted to activating the Webcams 4. But for anyone with a Webcam and Webcams are now built in to many laptops and desktops, the question is whether you are vulnerable to having your Webcam remotely turned on. The answer is yes, though the newest version of the software used by the district to monitor its computers can no longer be used to activate Webcams or even track stolen computers. 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According to Harriton High School student Phil Hayes, officials at the Lower Merion School District used a program called LANRev to manage and track the Macintosh laptops issued to students. The product was published by Pole Position Software, which was acquired last year by Vancouver, B. C. based Absolute Software. An Absolute Software spokesman verified that it is also his understanding that the school used LANRev software. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Mike Perbix, a network technician from the district, had recorded a Webcast where he talked about his use of LANRev. In a You. Tube video attributed to Perbix, he says, Ive actually had some laptops we thought were stolen which actually were still in a classroom because they were misplaced, and by the time we found out that they were back I had to turn the tracking off and I had a good 2. In one portion of the Webcast not in the You. Tube video, Perbix says, You can go into curtain mode, so if youre controlling someones machine and you dont want them to see what youre doing you just click on the curtain mode icon. Scroll down to the end of this post to listen to a 2. Webcast, in which Perbix talks about curtain mode. The blog Stryde Hax has more detail about Perbixs reported activities. End users can no longer track machines. Absolute has changed the name of the program to Absolute Manager and will be marketing it for remote management of PCs, Macs, and i. Phones, but the product will no longer be used for theft or loss recovery. For those functions, Absolute offers Computrace for enterprise customers including schools and Lo. Jack for Laptops for consumers. Unlike LANRev, Absolutes current theft recovery products cant be activated by end users, according to Vice President for Global Marketing Stephen Midgley. I interviewed Midgley by phone from his office in Vancouver. Both the Computrace and Lo. Jack products can be used to turn on a Webcam and photograph the user in the event of a theft investigation. But unlike the old LANRev, only Absolute engineers can track devices and activate recovery features. Company policy, according to Midgley, prohibits them for doing that until a police report is filed. For us to begin a theft recovery process, we need a case file from the police, he said. Two of the recovery methods are GPS and Internet Protocol location tracking. Absolute tracks the location of devices every 2. Midgley. That allows us to pinpoint the location of the device. Midgely said the recovery team is made up of former law enforcement officers and that the company has relationships with well more than 1,0. North America. Midgley said the company doesnt typically use Webcam photography, even if its available. The photography doesnt always take a picture of the criminal, and its not always permissible in a court of law, he said. Often, the person who is photographed using the laptop is not the person who stole it. By the time its been reported, the laptop has been sold, and the person using it isnt the same person who stole it, so taking a photograph of them really proves no value. In that case, its not a photograph of the criminal. It doesnt really help find out the location of the device, he said. Other ways to control Webcams. There are, however, other ways to remotely turn on a laptops Webcam. For one thing, there are many legitimate programs on the market that are used to control nanny cams, or Webcams used at vacation homes and other remote locations. If someone has physical access to a computer, it would be possible to install this software and turn it on remotely. There are also programs such as Go. Addictive Drums Osx Manager more. To. My. PC that are designed specifically to allow users to remotely control a machine via the Internet. Once connected, the person has complete remote control over the host computer, including the Webcam, microphone, and other features. This picture was taken via Go. To. My. PC from a remote computer. Larry MagidCNET. To be certain that Go. To. My. PC can be used for this purpose, I downloaded a copy to a laptop and accessed it from my desktop PC via the Internet and then used my desktop PC to activate the camera on the laptop. To be fair, Go. To. My. PC puts up a notice on the remotely controlled machine indicating that there is a session in progress, but that notice can be immediately taken down from the remote computer. You need physical access to a computer to install Go. To. My. PC, but its not uncommon for stalking victims to sometimes be in the same location as the stalker. Malware can turn on Webcam. There are also Trojan horses and other malware programs that can be used to take remote control of a computer. According to Mike Geide, senior security researcher at cloud security company Zscaler, there are several exploit kits out there that include rootkit functionality that allow people to interact with the operating system however they want, and that includes turning on specific services or running applications in the background that would include applications to report Webcams, record audio, or turn on a built in internal microphone. Geide recently blogged about a Chinese government Web site that had been hacked to post malware to utilize an Internet Explorer 6 vulnerability to plant Backdoor W3. Hupigon which, according to F Secure, is a remote administration utility which bypasses normal security mechanisms to secretly control a program, computer, or network, and allows for recording with the users Webcam. Trend. Micro education director David Perry stressed the importance of being aware of vulnerabilities. It would do a public service, if we could make the public more aware that when you hook something like a Webcam up to your system that making it secure is your responsibility, Perry said. By default, its insecure. In October 2. 00. TGDaily reported on a game that could mislead people into clicking on a link that can then remotely control the users Webcam and microphone. This You. Tube video shows a proof of concept of a simple game that could cause a user to turn on the remote camera for an attacker. While security software can protect you against much of the malware, it cant necessarily protect you against the misuse of legitimate programs designed to remotely enable a Webcam or remotely operate a PC. For that, the user has to be aware of what is running on the machine. While a sophisticated PC or Mac user may be savvy enough to determine if there are remote control programs running on their systems, there are plenty of people who wouldnt have a clue. I spoke with a student at Harriton who said some students are employing a very low tech solution to block their Webcams theyre pasting black tape over the lens. Now all they need to do is figure out how to disable the microphone. Click below to listen to a 2.