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Researchers work to counter a new class of coffee shop hackers

news.gatech.edu

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Re: Researchers work to counter a new class of coffee shop hackers

#13

Post by stewartbutler »

gregrata wrote: post #2

"typed by intercepting side-channel signals produced by the first laptop’s keyboard software, which had been modified to make the characters easier to identify." So they modified the keyboard to make it easy to detect what was typed? Not saying side-channel isn't a issue, but that's kinda silly :)

> keyboard software

Sounds to me like they modified the driver so that it had some kind of emissions pattern they could track. Driver could be modified via a virus or something.

Re: Researchers work to counter a new class of coffee shop hackers

#14

Post by unreal37 »

gregrata wrote: post #2

"typed by intercepting side-channel signals produced by the first laptop’s keyboard software, which had been modified to make the characters easier to identify." So they modified the keyboard to make it easy to detect what was typed? Not saying side-channel isn't a issue, but that's kinda silly :)

Actually, this shows that intercepting the password entered from either audio or electronic signals from the other side of a wall is possible. It's just a matter of perfecting the technology to intercept it.

Like, if I can read Chinese as long as the strokes are clearly made, you can say that I can read Chinese. Now it's just a matter of increasing error correction to remove the qualifier.

It's only a matter of budget to be able to read the keyboard characters without modifying the driver.

Re: Researchers work to counter a new class of coffee shop hackers

#15

Post by unreal37 »

stewartbutler wrote: post #13
gregrata wrote: post #2

"typed by intercepting side-channel signals produced by the first laptop’s keyboard software, which had been modified to make the characters easier to identify." So they modified the keyboard to make it easy to detect what was typed? Not saying side-channel isn't a issue, but that's kinda silly :)

> keyboard software Sounds to me like they modified the driver so that it had some kind of emissions pattern they could track. Driver could be modified via a virus or something.

Let's say your computer emits a inaudible signal at 4.127Hz when the A key is pressed, 4.131Hz when the B key is pressed, etc. There is a unique signal emitted for each key.

It sounds like they just modified the driver to make those signals easier to detect. (i.e. A became 4Hz, B became 4.1Hz, etc.) If they had more sensitive detectors, maybe they wouldn't need to modify the driver.

My guess.

Re: Researchers work to counter a new class of coffee shop hackers

#16

Post by 127001brewer »

matthewmcg wrote: post #11
surlyadopter wrote: post #4

Someone has been reading too much Neal Stephenson...

Shh---now they know to check for blinking keyboard LEDs.

ACHTUNG! ... ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinkenlights

Re: Researchers work to counter a new class of coffee shop hackers

#19

Post by parktheredcar »

Morphling wrote: post #5
Zikes wrote: post #3

The title needs changed, as the article doesn't actually address wifi hacking.

Also there doesn't seem to be anything that is actually "countering" anything at the moment

I feel like with most security research the only way to get $INDUSTRY to take things seriously is if there's an easy tool for anyone to use that exposes the weakness, like firesheep with https. For individuals driven by money, you need to get their customers riled up. So in a way, developing open tools to exploit weaknesses is a way of countering the weaknesses in the long run.
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