Cover Up Your Webcam, FBI Director Advises

Prying eyes may be taking advantage of your unconcealed webcam. GETTY

By Rachel Dicker | Associate Editor, Social Media Sept. 14, 2016, at 4:37 p.m.

Look at the top of your screen. Do you have a webcam?

If you don't, breathe easy.

If you do, and it isn't covered right now, it really should be, according to FBI Director James Comey.

During a conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Wednesday, Comey said putting a piece of tape over your webcam or otherwise covering it is a common-sense security measure, The Hill reports.

"You do that so that people who don’t have authority don’t look at you. I think that’s a good thing,” he said.

Comey came under fire in April for what some saw as an act of hypocrisy. On the heels of a highly publicized fight between the FBI and Apple over access to a terrorist's encrypted cellphone, Comey revealed that he puts tape over his personal webcam as a privacy-protecting measure.

On Wednesday, he drove home the point that “there’s some sensible things you should be doing, and that’s one of them.”

“It’s not crazy that the FBI director cares about personal security as well,” he said. “So I think people ought to take responsibility for their own safety and security.”