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The Security Risk of Keyboard Clicks
Gudlyf writes "First the blinking LED security issue, now this: listening to tell-tale keyboard clicks to decipher from afar what a person is typing. This isn't limited to just computer keyboards -- ATM's, telephone keypads, security doors, etc. Apparently with $200 worth of sound equipment and software, these keyboard clicks can be translated to within 80% accuracy. Of course, a whole lot of this is just theory."
Now when I log in to my account at work, instead of just needing password, secureid, smartcard, fingerscan, eyescan, and a note from my mother, I'll also need to use an on-screen touch-screen keyboard!
Of course, someone will probably now figure out that tapped glass reverberates at a different frequency...
Sounds like bollocks to me. The amount of crumbs under my keys, I'd be mighty impressed if you got anything intelligble.
Pretty soon they will find a way to desipher hidded messeges from human and animal farts.
I can't even tell what freakin time it is on my LED clock from ThinkGeek, much less deciper keyboard clicks and modem blinks :-)
Al you have to do is install voice-recognition software, then train it to only understand you when you speak in a broad Glaswegian accent.
Thereby ensuring NOBODY's going to be able to decipher a word you're saying.
'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
More hits == increased ePenis size!
Wait, there is a theory that with $200 of equipment, you can get 80% accuracy on this. Is there any reason why this is still just a theory? Can anyone scrap together the $200 to test this theory?
If only science weren't so expensive. Imagine how many other theories we could test if we could somehow get our hands on $500!
Finkployd
I don't type my passwords. I use voice recognition software and just say them. No clicks to overhear baby!!!
Doh
Good thing the whole future of "speech recognition" didn't pan out. Oh those silly Star Trek episodes, everyone can hear when Picard announces his secret password to everyone!
Like Teddy with an elephant gun.
In other news: hackers can connect to the internet by whistling into the phone.
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
Anywho, my girlfriend just yelled at me so I needed to vent.
Huh? Quit making up words!
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
My Model M doesn't have a rubber membrane so I'm not worried. Then again you don't need a microphone to hear me typing on it. My neighbours can hear me typing. If someone were to stick a microphone up to it I'd be interested to know how much of their hearing they'd retain.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
Nah, just a boom box with volume on 11 playing Spinal Tap.
Now I know that I should have saved my Atari 400. With that flat quiet keyboard, no one would be able to snoop on my typing. Of course, I'd have carpal tunnel so bad I couldn't pick up a spoon...
-- Fugacity: Confusing chemists since 1908
It's only a matter of time before they interpret the crinkling noises made by our protective hats and are able to read our very thoughts!
"Apparently with $200 worth of sound equipment and software, these keyboard clicks can be translated to within 80% accuracy. Of course, a whole lot of this is just theory."
Anybody who saw the episode of the CBS evening buddy-cop-drama "Due South: A Hawk and a Handsaw" knows that you don't need any special equipment. Just get a Canadian Mountie, have him listen to a nurse while she types in her password, and after several tries, the Mountie will be able to reproduce the password based solely on the sound of the clicks... Results are even better if the password is typed in to the tune of "I've been working on the railroad.".
Of course, a whole lot of this is just theory.
Of course, in theory:
- the earth is spherical in shape
- the earth revolves around the sun
- we evolved from lower species
- energy equals mass times the speed of light squared
My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!
what, you guys don't use a binary keyboard? 99 less keys to break.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
i mean, if someone wants to spy on your keystrokes they could install one of those $20 keycatcher thingies, freeware keyboard capture software, network snifers, or just look over your shoulder.
what kind of idiot would use a mic, and have to use neural nets to analyze the recording?
i wonder how many hours that guy flushed doing this study.
it would have been arguably more useful if he could determine what someone ate the night before by the sound of the splash.
The difference between theory and practice is, in theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is.
Anonymous Kev
Proudly posting as AC since 1997
(Finally got a dang account in 2004)
"Now we just need some covering noise while logging in. Time for a kernel patch? "
Are you trying to tell me I won't be secure until I get sound working in KDE? Crap.
"Derp de derp."
smartcard with a PIN number
somewhere a kitten just died.
Yes, I've seen a simplified design.
[ 3 or 7 or 9 or 6 or 0] [ 5 or 1 or 2 or 0 or 8 or 4 ] [ I'm feeling lucky! ]
Its just as well I use my mouse to click on porn.....
My hyperlinks aren't worth the paper they're printed on.