Your neighbor's clacking keys aren't just annoying - they're also exploitable

Researchers in the UK claim to have translated the sound of laptop keystrokes into their corresponding letters with 95 percent accuracy in some cases.

That 95 percent figure was achieved with nothing but a nearby iPhone. Remote methods are just as dangerous: over Zoom, the accuracy of recorded keystrokes only dropped to 93 percent, while Skype calls were still 91.7 percent accurate.

In other words, this is a side channel attack with considerable accuracy, minimal technical requirements, and a ubiquitous data exfiltration point: Microphones, which are everywhere from our laptops, to our wrists, to the very rooms we work in.

  • stoy@lemmy.zipEnglish
    22·
    11 months ago

    I wonder if you need to train it on a specific keyboard before it will work it.

      • stoy@lemmy.zipEnglish
        11·
        11 months ago

        That would limit the practicallity quite a lot, as deskmats and typing style would change the sound of even a common keyboard.

        I also notice that I slightly change my typing style between typing normally and entering my password.

        • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.ggEnglish
          2·
          11 months ago

          That would limit the practicallity quite a lot, as deskmats and typing style would change the sound of even a common keyboard.

          Eh… I don’t know if it would be enough of a change. Also consider mass produced popular laptops (e.g. targeting the MacBook keyboard).

          I also notice that I slightly change my typing style between typing normally and entering my password.

          I don’t really think that’s normal… But hey, maybe it gives you some protection 🙂