Mikko Hypponen, a cyber security expert told Business Insider: “Once you gain access to somebody’s system it’s trivial to turn on the webcam and record whatever they’re doing, or to just turn on the microphone and record whatever is being spoken around the infected laptop.

“On some laptops, you can even do this so that the light next to your camera will not go on. The light which is supposed to tell you that I am recording might not tell you that it is recording.”

Mikko also said that even though he is “quite certain” that his work laptop had not been breached, he covered his webcam with a “band aid” for “a little bit of extra certainty.”

Produced by Leon Siciliano. Filmed by Claudia Romeo

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