About applications' access to the webcam

The Webcam Protection component is designed to protect your webcam against unauthorized access. If Webcam Protection is enabled and the Block access to webcam for all applications check box is selected, Kaspersky Internet Security blocks access to the webcam for all applications and notifies you that access has been blocked.

If the Block access to webcam for all applications check box is cleared, Kaspersky Internet Security monitors application access to the webcam depending on the trust group of the application that requests access. Kaspersky Internet Security blocks access to the webcam for applications that have been included in the High Restricted or Untrusted groups.

In the Application Control settings window, you can allow access to the webcam for applications included in the High Restricted and Untrusted groups. If an application from the Low Restricted trust group attempts to connect to the webcam, Kaspersky Internet Security displays a notification and prompts you to decide whether to provide that application with access to the webcam.

If a webcam access attempt is made by an application that is denied access by default, Kaspersky Internet Security shows a notification. The notification shows information to the effect that an application installed on the computer (such as Skype) is currently receiving video data from the webcam. In the notification drop-down list, you can block the application from accessing the webcam or proceed to configure the settings of application access to the webcam. This notification is not displayed if applications are already running in full-screen mode on your computer.

In the drop-down list of the notification about video data received by the application, you can also choose to hide notifications or proceed to configure notification display settings.

By default, Kaspersky Internet Security allows webcam access to applications that require your permission if the application's GUI is still being loaded, unloaded, or not responding, and you cannot allow access manually.

Webcam access protection functionality has the following features and limitations:

• The application controls video and still images derived from processing of webcam data.
• The application controls the audio signal if it is part of the video stream coming from the webcam.
• Kaspersky Internet Security controls only webcams connected via USB or IEEE1394 that are displayed in Windows Device Manager as Imaging Devices.

Click this link to view the list of supported webcams.

To activate protection against unauthorized access to the webcam, the Application Control component must be enabled.

Webcam Protection has limitations if the application was installed in Microsoft Windows 10 Anniversary Update (RedStone 1).