31–40 of 60 posts
"Using nothing more than the built-in microphones and speakers of standard computers..." Are mics common on desktops? I would like to think I'm not that out of touch. I get that in laptops they are common. Still pretty cool. There could be an application for this that isn't malicious.
"Using nothing more than the built-in microphones and speakers of standard computers..." Are mics common on desktops? I would like to think I'm not that out of touch. I get that in laptops they are common. Still pretty cool. There could be an application for this that isn't malicious.
Note that using ultrasound as a communication mechanism, which is what's being described here, is very different from using it as an infection vector .
I love this sci-fi by way of anachronism stuff. The transfer rate of ~20 bytes per second is tiny, but of course that tiny amount could be the difference between two machines appearing to communicate and not appearing to. If your network traffic is confirmed to be zero, that's a state of confidence that's easy to take advantage of, and a deeply-rooted bit of malware like this could strike in extremely subtle and devi…
20 bits = 2 and a half bytes, and you are right that is enough. What surprises me is how people regarding this as "novel" not too long ago quite a few people used a "modem". That was a mythical device that used phone networks to transmit information. Regular phones would pick up that as sound. Sure there are few technical hurdles - covert communication and stringent error correction are most visible, but concepts are…
I love this sci-fi by way of anachronism stuff. The transfer rate of ~20 bytes per second is tiny, but of course that tiny amount could be the difference between two machines appearing to communicate and not appearing to. If your network traffic is confirmed to be zero, that's a state of confidence that's easy to take advantage of, and a deeply-rooted bit of malware like this could strike in extremely subtle and devi…
20 bits = 2 and a half bytes, and you are right that is enough. What surprises me is how people regarding this as "novel" not too long ago quite a few people used a "modem". That was a mythical device that used phone networks to transmit information. Regular phones would pick up that as sound. Sure there are few technical hurdles - covert communication and stringent error correction are most visible, but concepts are…
So how would this tolerate an environment with lots of white-noise generators?
Most 'white noise generators' are really outputting some sort of spectrally shaped pseudo-random noise, e.g. sound masking systems in offices closely follow the response curve of the human voice and output basically nothing under 200Hz nor over 7kHz. Even if playing pure 'pink noise', which is logarithmically flat and thus much more reasonable to listen to, there would be very little power in the band the authors of the paper are using (17kHz to 20kHz). I would also doubt that many white noise generator products are capable of producing usable output at those frequencies in the first place. Most laptop speakers probably can as a result of their size and design. 'White noise generators' should be targeting low end extension over high frequency output and I doubt many have multiple drivers per channel to accomplish both goals. Given all this, I highly doubt off the shelf 'white noise generator' products would have much effect on this communication method.
There are ultrasonic 'blasters' for lack of a better term that may work. I know some convenience stores mount them outside the store in order to deter younger folks loitering outside. As you age the limits of your high frequency hearing is reduced in a fairly predictable way; e.g. at age 15 you may be able to hear up to 22kHz, at 35 you may only be able to hear up to 18kHz. If you want to drive away younger people, blast out noise in the 19kHz to 22kHz range, it's really annoying to listen to and older folks won't even notice it. A similar thing may work to deter this communication channel, as long as you don't have too many young people around, or older folks with exceptional hearing range for their age.
"Using nothing more than the built-in microphones and speakers of standard computers..." Are mics common on desktops? I would like to think I'm not that out of touch. I get that in laptops they are common. Still pretty cool. There could be an application for this that isn't malicious.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
yea but then the malware has to already be present on both machines, eh?...
It's still a pretty neat trick, if you want malware designed to penetrate an airgapped network to phone home.
So how would this tolerate an environment with lots of white-noise generators?
Most 'white noise generators' aren't producing white noise. White noise has equal power in each linear band, e.g. 100Hz to 120Hz would have the same spectral power as 19,000Hz to 19,020Hz. Humans hear in a logarithmic fashion so real white noise is actually incredibly annoying to listen to. To the ear it has a lot of high frequency content in it, it sounds like a high frequency fuzz. Most 'white noise generators' are…
Anybody interested in the noise colors might take an interest in
http://playnoise.com/ (hint, hit more and enable stereo, I find that much more interesting for some reason).