Computer worm that turns on your webcam:

My friend Mitch Sklar passes along this story:

A new computer virus takes spying on victims one step farther than most worms — the malicious program is capable of switching on webcams, allowing the author to literally peek into victims’ lives. . . .

I’m always skeptical about computer stories in the media, since they so often get details wrong. And legal stories, those, too. And of course science stories, or any stories involving statistics. Come to think of it, I guess I’m always skeptical about all stories in the media, or should be. But in any event, this seems technically plausible.

As the story says, though, paraphrasing “Craig Schmugar, virus research manager at McAfee Inc.,” “consumers should really be much more worried about viruses and worms designed to capture keystrokes — which enable virus writers to steal passwords and personal financial information — than programs designed to flip on webcams.”