How do I deactivate my microphone and iSight for security reasons?

Question

In OS X 10.8 it is possible to log in via SSH and get access to hardware input devices like microphone and iSight camera. Thus it is possible to remotely record audio and video of other users sitting in front of the machine. I consider this a severe security issue!

How to exploit this issue

Luckily, I didn't have to face a microphone exploit yet, but this question on Stack Overflow shows a little python script which enables you to capture pictures using the iSight camera from the command line. I don't think it is much harder to capture video.

Question

One can disable the microphone using

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext

…unfortunately this also disables all audio output.

The same applies for the iSight camera by unloading IOUSB.kext, which most certainly might break all devices connected via USB, if not even causes a kernel panic.

How can I disable the microphone and iSight camera in an iMac (late-2012) under OS X 10.8.5 without breaking other system services?

Answer 1

I think you can specifically target your iSight camera by (re)moving /System/Library/QuickTime/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer.component

According to this: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070323094959262

The link does mention that it is 10.4 specific and I haven't tried it under 10.8/10.9 but it's a good place to start.

Answer 2

To disable iSight and other cameras, use:

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleCameraInterface.kext

(tested on 10.9)

I'm not aware of a way to disable audio input without affecting output. It's the same hardware so unloading/removing the kext probably won't work. One step you can take is to turn the input volume down to zero in your sound preferences, but of course anyone who's able to log in will be able to turn it back up.

Answer 3

You want to check out isight-cli, which basically changes the permissions on the necessary drivers as suggested here and here.

isight-cli is based on original applescript isight-disabler.

Answer 4

An update for OSX 10.11.6

Enable/disable the camera

1. First of all, you need to disable SIP by rebooting your mac in recovery mode (hold "Alt" key while rebooting then open the term.app and run csrutil disable and finally reboot).
2. I'm not a huge fan of file deletion in sytem folder. Use the power of Unix by changing changing the access rights of your selected files/folders/component. (secure if you have a decent admin password).

3. In a terminal, type the following commands for disabling the camera:

   sudo chmod a-r /System/Library/QuickTime/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer.component/Contents/MacOS/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer
   sudo chmod a-r /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServicesPrivate.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC
   sudo chmod a-r /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC
   sudo chmod a-r /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMediaIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC
   sudo chmod a-r /Library/CoreMediaIO/Plug-Ins/DAL/AppleCamera.plugin/Contents/MacOS/AppleCamera
   

chmod a-r removes the read right (-r) for all groups and users (a).

4. Launch Quicktime/PhotoBooth or any other app which uses the camera. Everything's gonna be as no webcam is installed on your mac.

Enable/disable the mic

I'm still looking for a way to disable the mic without disabling the audio output.

To be continued...

Answer 5

Unfortunately removing the Digitizer component only disables Quicktime access to the camera. Command line utilities can still gain access. Your best move is to paint over the camera lens. That is what I did.

I also painted over the microphone holes.