Pope Francis is onto a low-tech cybersecurity measure against hack attacks that is also used by Silicon Valley and Washington intelligence agency leaders.
In a Twitter picture that has gone viral, the pope is seen looking over his iPad — which has a circular piece of tape placed over the webcam, a rudimentary trick also used by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and FBI Director James Comey to avoid hackers.
The photo was originally shot by the Vatican newspaper a year ago, but was tweeted out this week by security researcher Collin Anderson, Mashable reported.
According to Mashable, a computer's web cam can lead to hack attacks in a number of ways, including by those who get onto another person's wi-fi network. A computer-connected webcam can also be controlled by hackers, Mashable reported.
"Hackers can access these cameras through malware," Mashable's Kellen Beck explained. "If you accidentally click a bad link or download the wrong file, that malware could contain executable code to turn on your webcam and send that video feed to a website or save it somewhere else."
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