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Detecting Screen Content via Remote Acoustic Side Channels
- eb0la 8y agoIt reminds me Tempest (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_(codename) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_(codename) ). This time they are exploiting information leak that goes to unshielded speakers and can be recorded and replayed easily. Very clever.
- John_KZ 8y agoAlthough this method can be used for de-anonymization and fingerprinting, you can't fully reconstruct the screen contents from such a low bandwidth signal. If your private spaces are bugged with microphones or cameras (ie most mobile devices, home audio "assistants", smart TVs, untrusted software etc) expect the owner of the sensor to do the best in their abilities to spy on you. Ultrasonic ad fingerprinting is another interesting way your home spies can communicate with each other.[1] [1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-that-use-inaudible-sound-to-link-your-phone-tv-tablet-and-pc/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-th...
- chupasaurus 8y agoI enjoy that nobody knows what the Van Eck phreaking[0] is. It works, but to get a good picture the gear is quite large to carry unnoticed. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking
- onion2k 8y agoAnyone who's read Cryptonomicon knows what Van Eck phreaking is, and anyone who hasn't read it probably isn't worth talking to. :)
- godelmachine 8y agoIs it really that good? I have been putting that and Permutation City off for quite some time now. Needless to day, I am quite a fan of Neal Stephenson.
- onion2k 8y agoIs it really that good? It's exceptional, though I suspect it may be a bit dated now. I was fortunate enough to read it when it came out.
- mikeash 8y agoI re-read it recently. It still holds up fine, but as the technological equivalent of historical fiction now. When it came out, it had a 1940s section built around the tech of the time, and a "modern" section built around "modern" tech. The only real difference is that the later section is now a 1990s section built around 1990s tech.
- jl6 8y agoPermutation City is by Greg Egan. Did you mean to mention Snow Crash? They’re both excellent.
- 52-6F-62 8y agoCheeky. How about those only partway through? Have pity on the mortals, alright?
- John_KZ 8y agoI assume it's not mentioned because everyone knows it. It's very old news.
- godelmachine 8y agoSteve Jobs started his career doing that with Blue Box.
- jwilk 8y agoBut it is mentioned in the article (Q7).
- opencl 8y agoThe gear is actually very very simple. eckbox.sourceforge.net/hardware.html
- chupasaurus 8y agoFor CRT - yes, but to get a picture from a smartphone's screen the gear would be massive. Saw one used by russian FSS (former name is KGB) on a security audit of some special place.
- demomode 8y agoIIRC this is what "Tempest for Eliza" was for CRTs http://www.erikyyy.de/tempest/ http://www.erikyyy.de/tempest/
- jwilk 8y agoIt doesn't have to be CRT. LCD screen connected via VGA works too.
- WillKirkby 8y agoI'm reminded of this DEF CON talk from 4 years ago detailing a similar technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N1C3WB8c0o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N1C3WB8c0o
- rocqua 8y ago> We assume that the attacker knows the content displayed on the attacked monitor, except for the textual letters. This assumption holds in many cases, for example, when the victim is filling a form on a known website. We also assume that the font is monospace and sufficiently large. The requisite size of the text depends on the granularity of the leak, which changes among different monitors. Another assumption is, again, that the screen is in portrait layout. They go on to state that in their proof of concept they had 3-6 letter word in black against a white background. They recorded audio for 5 seconds, and the letters were 175 px wide using a monospace font. Note that they do mention they expect that any background could work, as long as it is fixed and you can train your model on that background. My point being, this is far from a practical way to read what is on screen.
- jcelerier 8y agoyeah but I can't wait until browsers implement random background color change at 60hz for every https website because of "security"
- ggggtez 8y agoI think it's better to treat it as a proof of concept attack. It's more just to say: hey this type of thing is possible, maybe with better equipment and more research.
- ttul 8y agoBasically, with enough money (read: NSA), you can read anyone’s monitor.
- DoctorOetker 8y agoI've noticed this a few years ago, after reading some psychophysics papers, I was generating some pattern images based on what I read, when my monitor started emitting tunes (not by radio emissions), I suspect piezo effect in some capacitor. I instantly realized my monitor could be intercepted accoustically...
- DoctorOetker 8y agoIn my case the monitor was an 1080p LCD panel without speakers...
- userbinator 8y agoIn a less paranoic way, there's this related item: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8862689 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8862689 ...which evolved from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8856829 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8856829