FBI director James Comey recommends that everyone put a cover on their computer’s webcam

Earlier this year, an image of Mark Zuckerberg’s desk emerged showing that he uses a piece of tape to cover the webcam on his MacBook Pro. While many mocked this security method by Zuckerberg at the time, the Facebook CEO now has some additional back up from someone who’s pretty security conscious: FBI director James Comey.

Speaking during a conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Comey explained that putting a cover over webcams is one of the “sensible things” that everyone should be doing. Comey said that if you were to visit any government office, you would see that there are “little camera things” placed on all the computers that have lids. When the lids are closed, the camera is then blocked.

“There’s some sensible things you should be doing, and that’s one of them,” Comey said regarding webcam covers. “You go into any government office and we all have the little camera things that sit on top of the screen. They all have a little lid that closes down on them. You do that so that people who don’t have authority don’t look at you. I think that’s a good thing.”

Comey has spoken before about how he places a piece of tape over his webcam and was mocked for the practice because of his efforts to gain access to the iPhone used in the San Bernardino shooting. The FBI director admitted today that he was “much mocked for that.”

While the practice is often made fun of, a variety of webcam covers exist on the market for laptops, desktops, and iOS devices alike. It’s unclear if Comey also suggests that you should use a webcam cover on your iOS device, but given his focus on security it wouldn’t be surprising.

Do you feel the need to use a webcam cover? Let us know down in the comments.