Can a computer microphone be hacked and how do you protect yourself?

 

Cyber ​​attacks and threats to our devices are evolving day by day and despite the development of protection programs as well, protecting your data is your responsibility in the first place, and we have heard before about hacking the webcam, but what about the microphone, can it be hacked too? In fact, a computer can be hacked in general as long as it is connected to the Internet, and of course, there will be nothing worse than finding your personal chats on a website, but the good news is that you can protect yourself easily through some simple steps that we explain to you, so if you are interested in knowing more Read on about how safe your microphone is and how to disable it to protect yourself.

 

Can a computer microphone be hacked?

 

All devices connected to the computer are vulnerable to hacking, and among these devices is the webcam, where webcam hacks have topped the headlines many times over the past years, which has led to an increase in users’ awareness of that, and it is good that you can know if your camera has been hacked Hacked or not, the camera often contains a small light that appears when used, and you can simply cover the camera in order to completely secure yourself, and even if it is an external camera, you can easily separate it as well.

 

But the matter is somewhat different with regard to the microphone, as almost all computers come with a built-in microphone, so how can you know if the microphone is working or not while it does not have a light like a camera, and it is rare for you to see notifications stating that the microphone is activated as well You cannot cover it completely like a webcam, all of which makes it very important to look at this matter very carefully and strive to secure the built-in microphone of your device through the correct steps, which we explain to you at the end of the article.

 

What are RATs?

 

In fact, it is difficult for a criminal to target you on the Internet unless you work in an important and prestigious job or you are the owner of a large company, for example, but in general, all users can be targeted without exception through what is known as RATs, and certainly, we have all heard before about A "Trojan" or "Trojan", which is used by criminals with the aim of weakening the protection of victims' devices to access their data, as for RATs, they are malicious software similar to Trojans, as they are considered an acronym for "Remote Access Trojans" or "Remote Access Trojans". which allows hackers to gain access to users' computers remotely.

 

These viruses attack victims' computers and then bypass various protection programs and can work in the background in order to capture sounds through the computer's microphone and then send them back to their servers in the form of "compressed audio files" or even "encrypted streams", after which they can Hackers can use this data to analyze it, sell it to other companies, and so on.

 

In general, all users can be infected with such malicious programs and viruses that lead to microphone hacking, but there are some people who are more likely to be infected with such software, including people who use VoIP (Voice over the Internet) services a lot such as WhatsApp, Skype, and others Other services or even games that rely on VoIP where hackers can exploit vulnerabilities in this software to gain access to users' private conversations.

 

Protect your microphone from being hacked

 

There are a lot of other ways through which your device can be hacked, whether the microphone specifically or any other device connected to the computer or the data on it, etc., even if the phones can also listen to you with the aim of collecting data for advertising targeting and so on, and there are many important steps that you can take to protect your devices from hacking, especially the microphone.

 

Among these steps is to disable the microphone on your device if you do not need to use it often in meetings, conversations, etc., and although this method does not represent a completely guaranteed way to protect the microphone, it greatly reduces the possibility of it being hacked, as the microphone is completely disabled within programs completely, and the method is characterized by its ease of use, as you can activate and disable the microphone at any time through the Windows settings, as follows:

 

Run the Windows Settings application by clicking on Windows + I from the keyboard, then choose "System" and from the side menu, choose Sound, then scroll down to the Input section, then click on the manage sound devices button, and here you can control the output devices Audio (headset) or audio input devices (microphone). Just click on the name of the microphone, then click on "Disable" that appears to you, so you will not be able to use the microphone on any program, and you can activate it again simply through the same previous steps.

 

last word

 

In the end, it should be noted that there are many other steps that must be taken in order to protect your data and devices from hacking, and the best of these methods is to rely on this strong protection program in addition to not granting microphone permission to any site while using the Internet, but only for trusted and safe sites.