Keyboard Sound Aids Password Cracking

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Keyboard Sound Aids Password Cracking

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday September 13, 2005 @05:04AM from the but-i-love-clicky-keyboards dept.

stinerman writes "Three students at UC-Berkley used a 10 minute recording of a keyboard to recover 96% of the characters typed during the session. The article details that their methods did not require a 'training text' in order to calibrate the conversion algorithm as has been used previously. The research paper [PDF] notes that '90% of 5-character random passwords using only letters can be generated in fewer than 20 attempts by an adversary; 80% of 10-character passwords can be generated in fewer than 75 attempts.'"

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My Luggage by Valiss · 2005-09-13 05:06 · Score: 4, Funny

'90% of 5-character random passwords using only letters can be generated in fewer than 20 attempts by an adversary; 80% of 10-character passwords can be generated in fewer than 75 attempts.'

Looks like you're screwed because my luggage password is 5 digits long, but all digits are numbers in a sequential order starting with one. Ha ha!

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-Valiss
1. Re:My Luggage by loimprevisto · 2005-09-13 05:10 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  What? 1,2,3,4,5? Only an moron would use that combination for their luggage!
  
  --
  Much Madness is divinest Sense --
  To a discerning Eye --
  Much Sense -- the starkest Madness
2. Re:My Luggage by Rick.C · 2005-09-13 05:33 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  What? 1,2,3,4,5? Only an moron would use that combination for their luggage!
  Shhhh! That's not the combination he set - that's the TSA's "back-door" combo.
  
  --
  You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
  "Math in a song is good."-Linford
It's a good thing... by Nuclear+Elephant · 2005-09-13 05:08 · Score: 5, Funny

... that my voice is my passport.
WARNING by JamesD_UK · 2005-09-13 05:09 · Score: 5, Funny

Security experts recommend you don't speak the name of the key you're hunting for as you type your password with a single finger.
Great... by crc32 · 2005-09-13 05:10 · Score: 5, Funny

Now I'll need tinfoil wallpaper too, time to go to Cosco...

--
"In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -- Carl Sagan, Cosmos
1. Re:Great... by rtaylor · 2005-09-13 05:20 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Now I'll need tinfoil wallpaper too, time to go to Cosco...
  
  Tinfoil was eliminated by the government and replaced with aluminum foil. Your wallpaper and hats only make you believe you're safe.
  
  --
  Rod Taylor
2. Re:Great... by OzPeter · 2005-09-13 06:27 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  If you knew your world history you would know that it was an early 20th century right wing plot to get the US to use aluminum instead of the aluminium that the rest of the world uses.
  
  You see while aluminum looks and feels a lot like aluminium, it is actually a differant material, so much so that it cannot be used as a tinfoil hat replacement.
  
  Thus by duping the US citizens into believing that aluminum was just as good as aluminium (and more patriotic for the country), the government easily gained the capability of reading all of your thoughts, even when you thought they couldn't [*]
  
  As of now, the rest of English speaking world sits smuggly by wearing our aluminium foil hats, safe in the knowledge that our thoughts are secure.
  
  [*] Unfortunatley there was a side effect to being able to read the thoughts of everyone in the US. The summaries of such thoughts are used to brief the president in order to help him direct policy. But starting with the Shiny Shiny movements of the mid 80's suceeding presidents have slowly become paralysed by the thoughts of the mass population. This has come to a head with GWB being briefed hourly about how the population feels about JLo and Bennifer, while other, more important items are ignored.
  
  The only possible solution to this is to disband the remote thought readings, but when confronted with leftist radical ideas like this, the CIA/Industro-Military Complex reacts violently and labels such ideas as being the work of terrorists. (It should be noted that these people are known to have holdings of aluminium manufacturers in other countries, thus securing their *private* supply of aluminium foil hats).
  
  --
  I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Agent x86 by Molina+the+Bofh · 2005-09-13 05:20 · Score: 4, Funny

Be careful, chief. Lets type in the cone of silence.

--

-
Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
Re:Redbox for keyboards now? by o7400 · 2005-09-13 05:24 · Score: 5, Funny

That's it. From now on, whenever I'm typing a password I'm going to scream at the top of my lungs. How about that stopid password stealers!?
Re:Redbox for keyboards now? by TripMaster+Monkey · 2005-09-13 05:27 · Score: 5, Funny

Spyware attempting to hash out your keystrokes by listening to the keypresses instead of grabbing the strokes directly is a bit like a person trying to enjoy music by watching the equalizer lights flicker instead of using the speakers.

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____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Re:Redbox for keyboards now? by Daniel_Staal · 2005-09-13 06:10 · Score: 4, Funny

Why don't you volunteer for a charity? It sounds like you have enough time on your hands to save the world singlehandedly.

I am now out of college.

--
'Sensible' is a curse word.