Scientists Show How to Eavesdrop With Smartphone Sensors

[Guest]

Researchers at Georgia Tech have come up with a stunning experiment that sheds some light on just how capable modern smartphones are and how their capabilities can be exploited.

Scientists Show How to Eavesdrop With Smartphone Sensors : Read more

 

[hoof_hearted]

I have often wondered if someone even monitors via the microphone or speaker(s). The only "real" way to tell is if you had some sort of hard indication of current draw.

 

[alidan]

nice, personally i thought it would be something like the sensors picked up vibrations and turned them into audio with software.

 

[dalethepcman]

wouldn't it be much easier to just intercept the keyboard commands? Since were already in the "you have to have malware designed for this" why not make it easy?

They keystroke to dictionary word is pretty cool though.

 

[scythe944]

I guess it wouldn't work so well if they used swype...

 

[draxssab]

Just type in 1337...

 

[de5_Roy]

iirc there was an episode in the new hawaii 5-O where a cop uses someone's phone's mic to eavesdrop on them. iirc it was a windows 7.5 phone 😛
[strike]Big brother[/strike]governtment agencies might have perfected this already. 😗

 

[thebigt42]

Can I find this in Cydia so I can capture people's passwords as they type them??? Just kidding the would be wrong. 😉

 

[lockhrt999]

eagle eye? anyone?

 

[Guest]

erm so which of you guys failed to notice the smartphone was used to eavesdrop on a keyboard attached to a PC and not the smartphone itself, the method employed used alot of lateral thinking, i really am impressed with the concept

an open front door is often easier to attack then a correctly secured firewall

 

[shanky887614]

what about gps? they can tell what way we are facing

this is why im on cfw on android, new version released nearly every day

by the time they have an app that can do it for one version ill be a couple versions ahead and it wont work

iPhone are not updated that often at all, im surprised there is so little malware for it or at least so little that is reported

 

[Jath]

[citation][nom]lockhrt999[/nom]eagle eye? anyone?[/citation]
That was the first part that came to mind. Especially when she's monitoring the soundproof room for vibrations. Different in aspect, but pretty damn awesome.

 

[Guest]

so if you made a keyloggear but you are from a University or Research Lab you are called "Scientist" but if you are an "entusiast" and made your own keyloggear they label you as a Hacker/Cracker.... damn double standards

 

[Guest]

What happens when you press:

up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,select,and start on the iphone?

 

[Jath]

[citation][nom]HighRiskOhNo[/nom]What happens when you press:up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,select,and start on the iphone?[/citation]
Phone blows up. Fatality.

 

[reggieray]

They are just now showing us what the FEDS have known and exploited from day one. The new smart phones are big governments best friend.

 

[guardianangel42]

[citation][nom]shanky887614[/nom]what about gps? they can tell what way we are facingthis is why im on cfw on android, new version released nearly every dayby the time they have an app that can do it for one version ill be a couple versions ahead and it wont workiPhone are not updated that often at all, im surprised there is so little malware for it or at least so little that is reported[/citation]

Yeah, no. Android has malware because its marketplace is completely open without the necessary security systems in place to compensate.

iPhone and Windows Phone are closed marketplaces, both of which avoid having to have a mature security infrastructure by hand picking what apps are allowed onto any phone.

Look at it this way; Windows became widely used before its security infrastructure could catch up. It was, and is, a completely open system in that anyone can develop a program for it without having to pay someone else for the privilege and without being told they couldn't create THAT app. As a result pop ups, viruses, trojans, and all sorts of other malware came up before companies could develop defenses against them and before the OS was ready for it. Malware was allowed access to the kernel and it brought the whole system crashing down.

Fast-forward to today and Windows has separated the kernel, multiple companies have effective anti-malware services (including Microsoft), browsers are isolated more from the OS, and a huge amount of other security features are in place. The security infrastructure has matured enough to compensate almost entirely for the types of threats out there.

Right now Android is like old Windows; all features, freedom, and control without proper protection against the types of threats it's vulnerable to.

iPhone and Windows Phone bypass the step of developing a sufficient security infrastructure by making their marketplaces closed. I'm not saying it's the best approach or that I want that to continue indefinitely but I will say that it works in the short term.

 

[eddieroolz]

[citation][nom]guardianangel42[/nom]Yeah, no. Android has malware because its marketplace is completely open without the necessary security systems in place to compensate.iPhone and Windows Phone are closed marketplaces, both of which avoid having to have a mature security infrastructure by hand picking what apps are allowed onto any phone.Look at it this way; Windows became widely used before its security infrastructure could catch up. It was, and is, a completely open system in that anyone can develop a program for it without having to pay someone else for the privilege and without being told they couldn't create THAT app. As a result pop ups, viruses, trojans, and all sorts of other malware came up before companies could develop defenses against them and before the OS was ready for it. Malware was allowed access to the kernel and it brought the whole system crashing down.Fast-forward to today and Windows has separated the kernel, multiple companies have effective anti-malware services (including Microsoft), browsers are isolated more from the OS, and a huge amount of other security features are in place. The security infrastructure has matured enough to compensate almost entirely for the types of threats out there.Right now Android is like old Windows; all features, freedom, and control without proper protection against the types of threats it's vulnerable to.iPhone and Windows Phone bypass the step of developing a sufficient security infrastructure by making their marketplaces closed. I'm not saying it's the best approach or that I want that to continue indefinitely but I will say that it works in the short term.[/citation]

Kudos. Only if more Android fanboys recognize this.