A Way to Sniff Keystrokes From Thin Air

[aigle]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/161166/a_way_to_sniff_keystrokes_from_thin_air.html

Sounds interesting.

[Mrkvonic]

They say:

"With the keyboard's cabling and nearby power wires acting as antennas for these electromagnetic signals, the researchers were able to read keystrokes with 95 percent accuracy over a distance of up to 20 meters (22 yards), in ideal conditions."

Won't be losing sleep over it just yet ... Ideal conditions: a flatbed parked outside your bedroom, with a giant satellite dish grazing the bedroom window.

In the words of plebians: l ... o ... l.

Mrk

[aigle]

No one is loosing sleep of course. It,s just interesting.

[Mrkvonic]

I love EM studies ... but the trip from academy to practice is a long one.
Mrk

[Nebulus]

Interesting study, but those "ideal conditions" spoil all the fun ;D

[controler]

-{ Quote: "I love EM studies ... but the trip from academy to practice is a long one.
Mrk" }-

-{ Quote: "Spies have long known about the risk of data leaking via electromagnetic radiation for about 50 years now. After the U.S. National Security Agency found strange surveillance equipment in a U.S. Department of State communications room in 1962, the agency began looking into ways that radiation from communications equipment could be tapped. Some of this research, known as Tempest, has now been declassified, but public work in this area didn't kick off until the mid-1980s. " }-

Is 50 years long enough to go from academy to practice8)

[Blue Ring]

Thanks for posting about this Aigle. Good to be aware such things are possible. While I doubt an attacker would have much fun logging my key strokes, it is still good to be aware of the possibility.

It wouldn't really be too hard to prevent this from occurring though. There are many different ways to block rfi, even cable covers that wrap around a cable of flexible metal fibers that would do very well at blocking it. Or for perhaps a poor man's james bond type approach try wrapping the keyboard cord in metallic tape or just wrap them with tin foil lol. ;)