An active webcam harbors dangers, especially in times of home office and video conferences. The federal government helps with protection and is currently giving away webcam stickers to cover the camera. And if you don’t like that, you can counteract it with free software.
The webcam is a central tool in the home office. Just snap it on and you’ll be connecting with colleagues from all over the world. But it is just as important that you can also switch off the webcam. The horror scenario would be a hacked notebook camera that could be used to spy on you or your children.
So that you can protect yourself from spying attempts via the built-in webcams, the “Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth” is currently offering free webcam stickers again. These can be easily stuck in front of the camera on the PC, notebook, tablet and of course on the smartphone. The best thing about the stickers: they are made of a special material that allows you to use them again and again. All you have to do is clean the stickers with water and they are ready to use again.
Important: For private users there is a maximum order quantity of 5 stickers.
Windows on/off switch for webcam and microphone
Video conferences are often just about quickly deactivating the webcam and microphone, for example when the next generation bursts into the room during the budget meeting. This can become a problem if several video conference programs are installed. Microsoft has a solution that works across different programs in Windows. You have to install the PowerToys for this.
Among other things, this collection of tools offers the “Video conference mute” function. You then just have to enter the key combination [Windows] + [N] notice. It clamps video transmission and microphone system-wide. Press the hotkey again to turn both back on. With [Windows] + [Shift] + [O] control the webcam individually.
Prevent webcam access via software
If you don’t want to handle stickers, you can alternatively use software to protect yourself from webcam espionage. For example, there is the Windows tool Webcam On Off free to download. With the freeware, you protect yourself from hacker attacks on your webcam by disabling the webcam driver. All you have to do is press a button. Another push of a button is enough to reactivate the webcam. Of course you can also switch off the driver manually – you will find out how this works here.
For macOS, the free download of the OverSight tool is recommended. The software monitors webcam and internal microphone activity. As soon as these are activated or whenever a process wants to access the devices, the tool notifies you of these operations.