Eavesdropping is possible just by ``observing the light bulb'' from a distance: Israeli research team successfully experimented
Irrespective of these side-notes, Stanford University computer scientist and cryptographer Dan Bonnet notes that this eavesdropping technique is a novel side-channel attack that uses unintended information disclosure to steal secrets. He argues that it is an important one with the possibility of practical application in a simple form.
Bonnet says, "It's a neat application of side-channel attacks." “Even if it requires hanging light bulbs and loud noises, it is very interesting, and this is the first time this method has been shown to be possible. This method will be improved over time in the study of
Allows real-time eavesdropping
Contributed by Yuval Elovich of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Adi Shamir, co-inventor of the widely used RSA cryptosystem. The Lamphone team is not the first research team to show that unexpected acoustic phenomena can enable eavesdropping.
Scientists have long known that a spy could intercept sounds in a room by bouncing a laser beam off a window. In 2014, another group of researchers showed that gyroscopes in hacked smartphones could be used to intercept audio even when malware doesn't have access to the smartphone's microphone.
Lamphone's closest resemblance to the past is the "visual microphone," co-developed in 2014 by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Microsoft, and Adobe. By analyzing telescopic video recordings of indoor objects that respond to vibrations, such as potato chip bags and houseplants, the researchers were able to recreate the sounds and music.
The video method is very versatile because it does not require the light bulb in the room to be visible. But after recording, software must be used to analyze the footage and translate the subtle vibrations observed on the object into audio, Nassi said.
Lamphone, by contrast, enables real-time eavesdropping. Because the vibrating object itself is the light source, electro-optical sensors can detect vibrations as very simple visual data.
An easy way to prevent eavesdropping
In that respect, Nassi argues, Lamphone is far more likely to be used in intelligence operations than previous technologies. “If you actually use it in real time, you can respond immediately without missing an opportunity.”
Still, Nassi notes that the research team is not publishing the results of this study to make it available to spies or law enforcement, but rather to what is possible for those doing and being monitored. It is said that it is to clarify whether. "We want to raise awareness of these types of attacks," Nassi says. "We are not involved in providing the tools"
They are unlikely targets for this technique and can be easily prevented. All you have to do is cover up any hanging light bulbs or close the curtains.
People who are skeptical enough to worry about this kind of spy game are already installing anti-vibration devices in their windows to prevent laser microphone eavesdropping, and finding and cleaning out listening devices in their homes. deaf. And you must have unplugged the mic from your phone or computer. In an era where even a light bulb can be tapped, there is no end to suspicion.
* Click here for an article related to spying by "WIRED".
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TEXT BY ANDY GREENBERG