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Researchers Sniff Keystrokes From Thin Air, Wires

Posted by timothy on from the making-a-tempest-of-themselves dept.

narramissic writes "Two separate research teams have found that the electromagnetic radiation that is generated when a computer keyboard is tapped is actually pretty easy to capture and decode. Using an oscilloscope and an inexpensive wireless antenna, the Ecole Polytechnique team was able to pick up keystrokes from virtually any keyboard, including laptops — with 95 percent accuracy over a distance of up to 20 meters. Using similar techniques, Inverse Path researchers Andrea Barisani and Daniele Bianco picked out keyboard signals from keyboard ground cables. On PS/2 keyboards, 'the data cable is so close to the ground cable, the emanations from the data cable leak onto the ground cable, which acts as an antenna,' Barisani said. That ground wire passes through the PC and into the building's power wires, where the researchers can pick up the signals using a computer, an oscilloscope and about $500 worth of other equipment. Barisani and Bianco will present their findings at the CanSecWest hacking conference next week in Vancouver. The Ecole Polytechnique team has submitted their research for peer review and hopes to publish it very soon."

21 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. Guess what by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Upgrade to USB. Try to sniff that.

    1. Re:Guess what by Chabo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Real data thieves don't even bother with a keystroke sniffer: they know the sound of each key, so they only have to hear your password being typed to know it.

      --
      Convert FLACs to a portable format with FlacSquisher
    2. Re:Guess what by internerdj · · Score: 4, Funny

      So listening to mp3s on my computer is a security protection rather than a security risk? Hold on. I have to go complain to IT.

    3. Re:Guess what by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Funny

      A surefire way to get around keyboard monitoring is not to use one. It is admittedly rather tedious, but if you have good cause to be concerned about security, you can use an on-screen keyboard.

      Tempest.

      In future ITSO announcements:
      Your pass-group must contain one of each of the following:

      1. 20 character passphrase
      2. keyfob fingerprint reader
      3. rentinal scan
      4. one spoken word (which may not be any of: [cut dear don't everything eye God I my no off out take thumb told you])
      5. MRI scan of you imagining your "happy place"
    4. Re:Guess what by Linker3000 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Keyboardless? Try this... http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary

      --
      AT&ROFLMAO
    5. Re:Guess what by conureman · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oh great, now I have to sound-proof my Faraday Cage.

      --
      The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
  2. Paranoid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    None of this would happen if you used ParanoidLinux... or would it?

    The Illuminati are tapping our power lines! Run! Call Cory Doctorow! Call Dan Brown! Call John Munch!

    1. Re:Paranoid by SIR_Taco · · Score: 2, Funny

      Better get a tinfoil hat for your keyboard too.

      --
      I say don't drink and drive, you might spill your drink. Before you get behind the wheel just stop and think.
  3. Much ado about nothing? by Tumbleweed · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sounds like a TEMPEST in a teapot to me.

  4. Good news, tinfoil hat crowd! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tinfoil keyboards! Accessorize, baby!

  5. Well, just in case... by retroStick · · Score: 2, Funny

    I will have to type "I know you're eavesdropping" every few sentences.

    http://xkcd.com/525/

  6. Fools.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Two separate research teams have found that the the electromagnetic radiation that is generated when a computer keyboard is tapped is actually pretty easy to capture and decode.

    ...We at the NSA have known this for years.

    1. Re:Fools.... by thethibs · · Score: 2, Funny

      Everybody has known this for years, except, it seems, the guys and girls at Polytechnique and their grant committee.

      --
      I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
  7. thin air: the new menace by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Funny

    I couldn't help but think of drugs when I read the headline: Researchers sniffing lines of keystrokes, complaining about how thin the air has gotten since when they were young. By god, back then the electrons were so thick they had to use thick 8 gauge wiring to make anything work. Why, these days, the electrons have been used and re-used so much that we can use 24ga wiring for communications. Hey, are you gonna finish that line of qwertyuiop?

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    1. Re:thin air: the new menace by andrewd18 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Clearly we need to get rid of this "air" problem. If there's no medium to sniff the keystrokes from, our children will be safe. WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?

  8. The solution is obvious... by rickb928 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Change to Bluetooth. That'll fix 'em, by gum! Harrr! Can't fool ME that easily!

    Wait... Oh, nevermind. The only solution is to shoot people with antennae. Damned criminals...

    No, wait... No, wait... No, wait...

    Hmm. This is interesting. Get back to you.

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
  9. I knew this day would come by loconet · · Score: 5, Funny

    I knew it. Many others have been discussing the potentials for this type of eavesdropping for many years. Ha! and they laughed at me when I started protecting my stuff...

    --
    [alk]
  10. In other news by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Funny

    Stock prices for Alcoa shot up as stores reported a sudden shortage of aluminum foil. The Alcoa spokesman was at a loss to explain the sudden shortage.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  11. FUD by sgt+scrub · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is a plot by GUI users to spread fear uncertainty and doubt upon cli applications. May CLI live forever!

    --
    Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
  12. Use a Dvorak keyboard. by Neanderthal+Ninny · · Score: 2, Funny

    Change to an Dvorak keyboard or even an foreign language keyboard "challenge" this.
    However the way I type, they will have fun with all of those backspaces...

  13. Re:Mouse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    A keyboard?