Keyboard Sound Aids Password Cracking

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.'"

Comments

Keyboard specific?

[markass530]

I'd have a hard time believing this method transcends all keyboard models, and all typists.

applicability?

[MooseTick]

If you can get a mike that close to a keyboard to listen to the keystrokes, then you can probably place a micro camera and get the same results.

Re:applicability?

[TripMaster Monkey]

How about a parabolic or shotgun mike?

As the article says:

[tabkey12]

It just goes to show that when you have physical access to a computer, the security's already broken...