The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has the ability to spy on an individual by activating any computers' in-built webcam.
The irony is that the individual will not even come to know he/she is being spied on as the light which lets users know will not be switched on in the camera. What's more, the FBI has had this technology at its disposal for years.
Marcus Thomas, the former assistant director of the FBI's Operational Technology Division, confirmed that the FBI indeed has the ability to activate a computer's camera "without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording."
While the FBI has been snooping on civilians without their knowledge through their computers, Thomas noted that the ability was deployed "mainly" in terrorism cases or major criminal activities.
However, the notion of the FBI spying on you is quite discomforting nevertheless.
The FBI's elite hacker team apparently uses malware to snoop on suspects. The new information is courtesy of a Washington Post report.
"Such high-tech search tools, which the FBI calls "network investigative techniques," have been used when authorities struggle to track suspects who are adept at covering their tracks online. The most powerful FBI surveillance software can covertly download files, photographs and stored e-mails, or even gather real-time images by activating cameras connected to computers, say court documents and people familiar with this technology," per the report.
In the case of "Mo" an Iranian, who supposedly made threats of mass murder against U.S. citizens, court documents pertaining to the investigation offers glimpses into the FBI's tools for tracing suspects. However, the scale of the FBI effort is not known.
"Technology is evolving and law enforcement is struggling to keep up," said Brian L. Owsley, a retired federal magistrate judge from Texas who was not involved in either case. "It's a cat-and-mouse game."
