Academics steal data from air-gapped systems using PC fan vibrations

guest · Apr 17, 2020

Academics steal data from air-gapped systems using PC fan vibrations
Israeli researchers use vibrations from CPU, GPU, or PC chassis fans
April 17, 2020
https://www.zdnet.com/article/academics-steal-data-from-air-gapped-systems-using-pc-fan-vibrations/

Academics from an Israeli university have proven the feasibility of using fans installed inside a computer to create controlled vibrations that can be used to steal data from air-gapped systems.

The technique, codenamed AiR-ViBeR, is the latest in a long list of wacky data exfiltration techniques devised by Mordechai Guri, the head of R&D at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.
Research into this topic is important because air-gapped systems -- computers isolated on local networks with no internet access -- are often used on government or corporate networks to store sensitive data, such as classified files or intellectual property.
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Guri says that malicious code planted on an air-gapped system can control the speed at which fans work. By moderating fan speed up and down, the attacker can control the frequency of the vibrations coming off the fan.
[...] a nearby attacker can record these vibrations using accelerometer sensors found in modern smartphones, and then decode the information hidden in the vibration pattern to reconstruct the information stolen from the air-gapped system.
STEALING DATA VIA VIBRATIONS TAKES A WHILE
However, while the AiR-ViBeR technique is some pretty innovative work, transmitting data through vibrations is extremely slow.
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arXiv: AiR-ViBeR: Exfiltrating Data from Air-Gapped Computers via Covert Surface ViBrAtIoNs<

longshots · Apr 17, 2020

Guri says that malicious code planted on an air-gapped system can control the speed at which fans work.
Click to expand...

Shame he doesn't say how he put that malicious code on the air gapped computer.

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Academics steal data from air-gapped systems using PC fan vibrations

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