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Used to be if spies wanted to eavesdrop, they planted a bug. These days, it's much easier. Because we all carry potential bugs in our pockets—smartphones. One team of researchers used an iPhone to track typing on a nearby computer keyboard with up to 80 percent accuracy. They presented the findings at a computer security conference in Chicago. [Philip Marquardt et al., (sp)iPhone: Decoding Vibrations from Nearby Keyboards Using Mobile Phone Accelerometers, 18th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security]
The researchers designed a malicious app for the iPhone 4. When you place the phone near a keyboard, it exploits accelerometer and gyroscope data to sense vibrations as the victim types—detecting whether keystrokes come from the left or right side of the keyboard, and how near or far subsequent keys are from each other. Then, using that seismic fingerprint, the app checks a pre-created "vibrational" dictionary for the most likely words—a technique that works reliably on words of three letters or more.
Of course, you'd need to install the app to allow it to spy. But whereas most apps have to ask permission to access location data or the camera, that's not so for the accelerometer. This kind of attack may offer good reason to limit accelerometer access too—and keep iPhones from becoming "spiPhones."
—Christopher Intagliata
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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6 Comments
Add CommentThat's an awful lot of anger you're holding towards some imaginary person using an app that's never been released to the public to spy on you. Maybe you should channel that aggression towards something useful, like breaking your keyboard. Then, no one would be able to spy on you typing, and you wouldn't be able to embarrass yourself on the internet by expressing your thoughts, ideas, and emotions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo it's a vibraphone?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWould you like to talk about your anger management and social exclusion problems? It's okay, we're here for you...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Then, using that seismic fingerprint, the app checks a pre-created "vibrational" dictionary for the most likely words—a technique that works reliably on words of three letters or more."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think this approach is brilliant in its simplicity. However, it should be noted that it would fail to be of much help in guessing passwords. At least when people have been at least a tiny bit sensible about their choice of those.
Soe I hav nuttin tue wuriee abowt sinse I tipe liek thiz?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf China can break-in firewalls to enter the White House whats left? There is no privacy. As advance more foretold. But advantages are innumerable. Make your choice. Like to use quill and ink again!!
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