> [It] runs a heavily stripped-down version of Linux that lacks systemd and apt. And these are just a few of the issues.
You mean it's not Debian-based? How is this an issue?
How I discovered a hidden microphone on a Chinese NanoKVM
61–70 of 138 posts
Re: How I discovered a hidden microphone on a Chinese NanoKVM
#62[flagged]
Re: How I discovered a hidden microphone on a Chinese NanoKVM
#63> The device initially came with a default password, and SSH access was enabled using this preset password
That alone ends my trust in the brand.
Re: How I discovered a hidden microphone on a Chinese NanoKVM
#64> You can start with your iPhone - last year Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its voice assistant Siri recorded private conversations. They shared the data with third parties and used them for targeted ads. “Unintentionally”, of course! Yes, that Apple, that cares about your privacy so much the clickbait title makes sense after reading this paragraph
Not really, because the paragraph you quoted was highly misleading. Even the plaintiffs admit that the recordings were caused by accidental activation, not some sort of nefarious conspiracy by Apple. Moreover there's no evidence that Apple "used them for targeted ads", only that they handed over to third party contractors for improving siri.
Re: How I discovered a hidden microphone on a Chinese NanoKVM
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
It doesn't strike me as that useful to have a hidden microphone in a KVM product as most of the time, they're going to be stuck in server rooms with just lots of fan noise to record. Far more of an issue would be any kind of keylogger built into the software, which is why it's best to go for devices that support open source software.
just fan noise? https://arxiv.org/abs/1606.05915 Any signal that you can modulate can be an exfiltration channel, and fan noise is no different.
> Any signal that you can modulate can be an exfiltration channel, and fan noise is no different.
This KVM has HDMI input and can directly emulate USB mass storage; fan-modulation is the lowest-bandwidth (side-)channel available to the attackers.
Re: How I discovered a hidden microphone on a Chinese NanoKVM
#66To be fair, the microphone _is_ listed on the specsheet of the LicheeRV Nano https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/lichee/RV_Nano/1_intro.h... I assume they didn't intend to put a mic on the KVM product, but they wanted to make a KVM product, already had this SBC product, which reusing their existing stock of helped keep cost low. Should they have been more up front about it it? Sure, and it's not great that they had a…
"hidden microphone in a Chinese KVM" is the correct way to describe what is going on.
"Reusing existing stock" is not a valid excuse. They are currently selling this device without advertising that it contains a working microphone.
Re: How I discovered a hidden microphone on a Chinese NanoKVM
#67To be fair, the microphone _is_ listed on the specsheet of the LicheeRV Nano https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/lichee/RV_Nano/1_intro.h... I assume they didn't intend to put a mic on the KVM product, but they wanted to make a KVM product, already had this SBC product, which reusing their existing stock of helped keep cost low. Should they have been more up front about it it? Sure, and it's not great that they had a…
"hidden microphone in a Chinese KVM" is the correct way to describe what is going on. "Reusing existing stock" is not a valid excuse. They are currently selling this device without advertising that it contains a working microphone.
A working microphone and recording software and hacking tools like aircrack-ng on an otherwise stripped-down OS image...
Re: How I discovered a hidden microphone on a Chinese NanoKVM
#68> You can start with your iPhone - last year Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its voice assistant Siri recorded private conversations. They shared the data with third parties and used them for targeted ads. “Unintentionally”, of course! Yes, that Apple, that cares about your privacy so much the clickbait title makes sense after reading this paragraph
Not really, because the paragraph you quoted was highly misleading. Even the plaintiffs admit that the recordings were caused by accidental activation, not some sort of nefarious conspiracy by Apple. Moreover there's no evidence that Apple "used them for targeted ads", only that they handed over to third party contractors for improving siri.
And Siri promptly got disabled on my wife's iPad because she kept triggering it inadvertently. Something about her accent kept tripping it. (And, in reverse, Alexa will often not trigger when my wife tries. She comes from a tonal language and it creeps into her English extensively.)
Re: How I discovered a hidden microphone on a Chinese NanoKVM
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Chinese part makes one think the Chinese could access the microphone. Nevermind that, if they could access the device, they'd also be able to read your kvm i/o.
You might be right but I think we cannot assume malice when it could be laziness. It might be that the exact same board has multiple target audiences and they just rebrand it for different purposes with different pricing. That said, the microphone is so weirdly positioned that it gets suspicious indeed.
> I think we cannot assume malice when it could be laziness
If you are too lazy to go back and check if you left the gas on, you bear responsibility if the place explodes.
At the very least, it's negligent to leave something like that in and not be very upfront about it.
Re: How I discovered a hidden microphone on a Chinese NanoKVM
#70> [...] and runs a heavily stripped-down version of Linux that lacks systemd and apt. And these are just a few of the issues. ?!
Presumably Alpine. I bet it doesn't run GNOME either. And these are just a few of the issues!