Researchers Sniff Keystrokes From Thin Air, Wires 217
narramissic writes "Two separate research teams have found that the electromagnetic radiation that is generated when a computer keyboard is tapped is actually pretty easy to capture and decode. Using an oscilloscope and an inexpensive wireless antenna, the Ecole Polytechnique team was able to pick up keystrokes from virtually any keyboard, including laptops — with 95 percent accuracy over a distance of up to 20 meters. Using similar techniques, Inverse Path researchers Andrea Barisani and Daniele Bianco picked out keyboard signals from keyboard ground cables. On PS/2 keyboards, 'the data cable is so close to the ground cable, the emanations from the data cable leak onto the ground cable, which acts as an antenna,' Barisani said. That ground wire passes through the PC and into the building's power wires, where the researchers can pick up the signals using a computer, an oscilloscope and about $500 worth of other equipment. Barisani and Bianco will present their findings at the CanSecWest hacking conference next week in Vancouver. The Ecole Polytechnique team has submitted their research for peer review and hopes to publish it very soon."
Guess what (Score:2, Funny)
Upgrade to USB. Try to sniff that.
Paranoid (Score:1, Funny)
None of this would happen if you used ParanoidLinux... or would it?
The Illuminati are tapping our power lines! Run! Call Cory Doctorow! Call Dan Brown! Call John Munch!
Much ado about nothing? (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds like a TEMPEST in a teapot to me.
Good news, tinfoil hat crowd! (Score:5, Funny)
Well, just in case... (Score:2, Funny)
I will have to type "I know you're eavesdropping" every few sentences.
http://xkcd.com/525/ [xkcd.com]
Fools.... (Score:2, Funny)
Two separate research teams have found that the the electromagnetic radiation that is generated when a computer keyboard is tapped is actually pretty easy to capture and decode.
...We at the NSA have known this for years.
thin air: the new menace (Score:5, Funny)
I couldn't help but think of drugs when I read the headline: Researchers sniffing lines of keystrokes, complaining about how thin the air has gotten since when they were young. By god, back then the electrons were so thick they had to use thick 8 gauge wiring to make anything work. Why, these days, the electrons have been used and re-used so much that we can use 24ga wiring for communications. Hey, are you gonna finish that line of qwertyuiop?
Re:thin air: the new menace (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Guess what (Score:5, Funny)
Real data thieves don't even bother with a keystroke sniffer: they know the sound of each key, so they only have to hear your password being typed to know it.
The solution is obvious... (Score:3, Funny)
Change to Bluetooth. That'll fix 'em, by gum! Harrr! Can't fool ME that easily!
Wait... Oh, nevermind. The only solution is to shoot people with antennae. Damned criminals...
No, wait... No, wait... No, wait...
Hmm. This is interesting. Get back to you.
I knew this day would come (Score:5, Funny)
I knew it. Many others have been discussing the potentials for this type of eavesdropping for many years. Ha! and they laughed at me when I started protecting [businessol.com] my stuff...
In other news (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Paranoid (Score:2, Funny)
Better get a tinfoil hat for your keyboard too.
Re:Guess what (Score:5, Funny)
FUD (Score:5, Funny)
This is a plot by GUI users to spread fear uncertainty and doubt upon cli applications. May CLI live forever!
Re:Guess what (Score:5, Funny)
A surefire way to get around keyboard monitoring is not to use one. It is admittedly rather tedious, but if you have good cause to be concerned about security, you can use an on-screen keyboard.
Tempest.
In future ITSO announcements:
Your pass-group must contain one of each of the following:
Use a Dvorak keyboard. (Score:2, Funny)
Change to an Dvorak keyboard or even an foreign language keyboard "challenge" this.
However the way I type, they will have fun with all of those backspaces...
Re:Guess what (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Mouse (Score:1, Funny)
A keyboard?
Re:Fools.... (Score:3, Funny)
Everybody has known this for years, except, it seems, the guys and girls at Polytechnique and their grant committee.
Re:Guess what (Score:3, Funny)
Oh great, now I have to sound-proof my Faraday Cage.