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Interesting... I thought the consensus was that these sounds weren't possible to create / detect on typical hardware according to recent discussions about myste

by 51Cards 13y ago

Interesting... I thought the consensus was that these sounds weren't possible to create / detect on typical hardware according to recent discussions about mystery malware spreading through the air? I wonder what percentage of systems would be up to the required specs.

VLM 13y ago
"surprisingly tinny laptop speakers have a good high-frequency resolution, and are able to deliver a pulse less than 10 cm long." http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.13/students/brandon/ http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.13/students/brandon/
vezzy-fnord 13y ago
No one said that it wasn't possible to use high-frequency sound as a communication vector. It was the sheer seamlessly interconnected complexity of the entire badBIOS affair that led to skepticism.
jerf 13y ago
Malware can't spread via ultrasound, but it could certainly communicate via ultrasound. To spread would require that a sound picked up by the microphone would be executable, and in general, that can't happen. (In specific it can, of course; one could build a program to execute things from the microphone on purpose. But generally microphones do not get their input executed, and any hardware that did that would be incredibly, insanely broken. Mind you, I'm not saying that doesn't exist... just that it would be incredibly, insanely broken. Even by the standards of embedded hardware programming.) Also, I don't think the badBIOS guy claimed it was spreading via ultrasound, that was sort of a generalized misinterpretation in the community.
- morganherlocker 13y ago
  Microphone injection reminds of the picture going around with the person who taped a sql injection attack over their license plate to screw with the traffic cams.
  - deaconblues 13y ago
    link: http://gizmodo.com/5498412/sql-injection-license-plate-hopes-to-foil-euro-traffic-cameras http://gizmodo.com/5498412/sql-injection-license-plate-hopes...
- pjungwir 13y ago
  > In specific it can, of course Buffer overflow in the microphone driver? I'd love to see that in a Hollywood movie.

by 51Cards 13y ago

VLM 13y ago

"surprisingly tinny laptop speakers have a good high-frequency resolution, and are able to deliver a pulse less than 10 cm long." http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.13/students/brandon/ http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.13/students/brandon/

vezzy-fnord 13y ago

No one said that it wasn't possible to use high-frequency sound as a communication vector. It was the sheer seamlessly interconnected complexity of the entire badBIOS affair that led to skepticism.

jerf 13y ago

Malware can't spread via ultrasound, but it could certainly communicate via ultrasound. To spread would require that a sound picked up by the microphone would be executable, and in general, that can't happen. (In specific it can, of course; one could build a program to execute things from the microphone on purpose. But generally microphones do not get their input executed, and any hardware that did that would be incredibly, insanely broken. Mind you, I'm not saying that doesn't exist... just that it would be incredibly, insanely broken. Even by the standards of embedded hardware programming.) Also, I don't think the badBIOS guy claimed it was spreading via ultrasound, that was sort of a generalized misinterpretation in the community.

morganherlocker 13y ago
Microphone injection reminds of the picture going around with the person who taped a sql injection attack over their license plate to screw with the traffic cams.
- deaconblues 13y ago
  link: http://gizmodo.com/5498412/sql-injection-license-plate-hopes-to-foil-euro-traffic-cameras http://gizmodo.com/5498412/sql-injection-license-plate-hopes...
pjungwir 13y ago
> In specific it can, of course Buffer overflow in the microphone driver? I'd love to see that in a Hollywood movie.