How to properly secure your computer microphone

Mark Zuckerberg recently posted a photo, intended to promote Instagram’s user milestone numbers, but it revealed that Zuckerberg hasn’t lost any of his hacker caution when it comes to protecting his privacy.

The photo shows the internal microphone, right next to the line in/out, of the Facebook CEO's MacBook covered with what looks like tape.

While putting tape over your microphone seems like it could help with security,  Zuckerberg's method with clear tape and thicker gaffer's tape, doesn’t reduce the microphone's audio pickup — even when doubled up.

Covering your webcam is a surefire way to keep away webcam hackers, but if you want to protect your microphone, you'll need to be a little more creative.

So here's one way to give hackers the runaround by making your computer deaf.

It's very simple, actually: Connect a pair of headphones that include a microphone into your audio jack, then snip off the headphone with the mic on it — usually the right one — just below the mic. 

Yes, you'll have to destroy a pair of headphones, but who doesn't have an old pair of Apple earbuds floating around?

Here's why this works. When you plug in headphones with a built-in mic, your computer automatically changes its default audio input from the internal mic to the new external mic. Then, when you sever the line to the microphone, the computer doesn't change back to the internal mic, and it can't receive any audio from the (now missing) external mic, either.

It's possible that if a hacker had complete control of your computer, they'd be able to switch the input audio back to the internal mic, but if they run an automated program, they'll likely only pick up whatever is currently set to default.

And now you know how to get your computer into better security shape than Mark Zuckerberg's!

Need help securing your computer or laptop? Give The Computer Guyz in Cape Town or Centurion a call!