Monitoring Your Monitor

bje2 writes "Rememeber this story from a couple months ago about reconstructing data from the blinking LEDs of modems...well, CNet is running a story about reconstructing the display of a computer by using special hardware and the reflected glow of the monitor." Kuhn's paper (400k PDF) is available.

Comments

Special Hardware...

[danamania]

CNet is running a story about reconstructing the display of a computer by using special hardware and the reflected glow of the monitor."

...like a mirror!

a grrl & her server

Quake

[Bouncings]

The real danger here, I think, isn't some kind of "national security" or "bank fraud" or anything like that -- security schmecurity. The real danger, is Quake cheating!

Think about it. If I can reconstruct what is on your monitor, I can tell where you are. Are you down the tunnel? In the water? Are you on top of that goddamnfucking sniper tower? I could reconstruct your screen and determine exactly where you are in the Quake map.

Quick, someone, solve this problem before it tears society apart!!

Re:Quake

[supercytro]

I can just see the lusers typing
"You cheater. You're reconstructing the display of a computer by using special hardware and the reflected glow of .... dammit you shot me again":)

Re:Quake

[Nos.]

We used to do quite a bit of gaming at a buddy of mine's apartment back in the day. He'd always turn his desk so it faced away from the rest of us (no looking at his monitor). However, it wasn't until after a couple of weeks of always knowing his starting point in Starcraft that he realized I could see a very nice image of his screen in the patio doors behind him. Back in the day we didn't need no high-tech gadgets, just a window in a lit room at night and I could see all I needed to :)

Great!

[BurritoWarrior]

Now I can begin selling my high-tech, computer privacy protection devices.

I will call them curtains.

Re:Great!

[BurritoWarrior]

But with the LCD, we won't have the dastardly spy saying:

"Curtains, foiled again!"

OK, that was bad. Forgive me. :-)

That's easy to fix!

[Tidan]

It's clearly the same as the problem with the blinking modem LED's -- just cover the front of your monitor with duct tape.

Slashdot Articles

[billh]

Rememeber this story from a couple months ago about reconstructing data from the blinking LEDs of modems... and remember that CNet story about reconstructing the display of a computer by using special hardware and the reflected glow of the monitor.? Well, now it seems that someone has figured out how to recreate Slashdot articles just by not checking to see if they have already been posted!!!

This is great news

[drew_kime]

Now I can justify the 21 LCD at work on the grounds that the CRT poses a risk of industrial espionage.

Reconstructing Slashdot

[micromoog]

Now you can reconstruct Slashdot from the reflected glow of old stories!

Re:Reconstructing Slashdot

[slyborg]

Yes, Slashdot's redundancy clearly is increasing, soon you will be able to generate a day's Slashdot in advance by interpolative prediction. Already possible for all Katz submissions!

I saw this coming years ago

[Anonymous Coward]

That's why I invested in thick shields for my windows.

Well, that's what I call them.

She calls them curtains.

Oh well.

Re:Useful Spy Stuff

[uberdave]

Of course, we all know that high tech spy computers have monitors that throw a readable image onto the user's face. You see it all the time in the movies. They're reconstructing the image by analyzing the glow bouncing off of your walls and face.

Re:Old news

[swagr]

If a post to this story is on-topic, it must also be redundant (seeing as the story was already posted).

So every post should either be modded down to offtopic or redundant.

....I'm waiting...