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Your Phone Can Be Snooped On Using Its Gyroscope
stephendavion (2872091) writes Researchers will demonstrate the process used to spy on smartphones using gyroscopes at Usenix Security event on August 22, 2014. Researchers from Stanford and a defense research group at Rafael will demonstrate a way to spy on smartphones using gyroscopes at Usenix Security event on August 22, 2014. According to the "Gyrophone: Recognizing Speech From Gyroscope Signals" study, the gyroscopes integrated into smartphones were sensitive enough to enable some sound waves to be picked up, transforming them into crude microphones.
Is it "Gyro" or "Yeero"?
Can we just succumb to the inevitable and work on building a list of the parts of a smartphone that can't be used to spy on you?
I'm thinking 'maybe the battery door'. Any other suggestions?
That's modern /. for you. They should change the motto to "Week Old News for Nerds".
I'm going to assume most phones already have actual microphones, so how does this add any additional kind of insecurity? I'm going to assume most phones already have actual microphones, so how does this add any additional kind of insecurity?
It feels somewhat cumbersome to read about groscopes in mobile devices. Ah well, there is also no disks inside SSD hard disks...
Another summary posted by trainee.
But from what I gather, Researchers will demonstrate a way to spy on smartphones using gyroscopes at Usenix Security event on August 22, 2014.
I'm not sure why anyone would care that some aspect of their device could be used as a "crude microphone," when a perfectly functional and often well-designed microphone is an integral part of the design. Seems pretty silly.
the gyroscopes integrated into smartphones were sensitive enough to enable some sound waves to be picked up, transforming them into crude microphones
Yeah, that's why I always stick my phone inside an empty potato chip bag when I'm talking to someone...
My phone doesn't have gyroscope, therefore I am safe from people listening in to my conversations.
"Gee boss, we need to spy on this guy! Any ideas how we can do it?
"Well he has a smart phone; maybe we can leverage that to our advantage?"
"Oh, I see what you are getting at; we'll hack the firmware so we can use the oscillations of the GPS to crudely and inaccurately record what he is saying!"
"Actually, I was thinking we might want to use the attached microphone which is, you know, designed to pick up sound..."
Researchers will demonstrate the process used to spy on smartphones using gyroscopes at Usenix Security event on August 22, 2014. Researchers from Stanford and a defense research group at Rafael will demonstrate a way to spy on smartphones using gyroscopes at Usenix Security event on August 22, 2014.
Why the redundancy? Post must be longer than 100 characters?
originally researchers analyzed the data in the following categories. wobbling or wiggling in android devices indicated stress patterns, while violent shaking concluded frustration or rage. Finally, a single impact for iPhone devices registered as a trip to the genius bar and an unpaid credit card bill.
Good people go to bed earlier.
They are currently able to recognize the spoken digits 1-9 correctly approximately 80% of the time. This is given a training data set from the same speaker and the same phone. Incredibly impressive, especially since it was done from a web browser and requires no special permissions or even knowledge from the user. For those of you that didn't read it. However, James Bond spy tool this is not yet...
I can't help but feel like there are gyroscopes involved in this process somehow...
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Apps request permissions for different pieces of hardware on a case-by-case basis. The average user might raise some eyebrows if an app that shouldn't need it wants to access your microphone, but access to gyroscope data might not even require user acceptance.
I repeat myself when under stress
I repeat myself when under stress
I repeat myself when under stress
I repeat
No one will ever bother exploiting this. Neither will anyone bother to exploit the red button attack or inferring audio from video recording. It's just too tricky to get these working in practice. Even with the gyroscope you get a crummy 100Hz frequency cap with terrible amounts of factors decreasing sound capture quality.
http://petapixel.com/2014/08/0...
Good lordy.
This would be really cool if the privacy implications weren't scary. However, I can't imagine this being useful or practical wide scale. As a targeted attack, that's really scary as fuck.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
... has moved to smartphones.
I apologize for the lack of a signature.
Smartphones have actual microphones. Why use the gyro as a crude microphone when you have a perfectly functioning microphone built into the device already?
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
Mine's got a wireless charging pad in it.
Of course, it's running WebOS, which lets me set up security such that I can require confirmation before an app's allowed to use certain features (eg, GPS), rather than just giving it a blanket 'you're allowed to use GPS whenever you want to'.
The drawback is that I don't have nearly as many apps available to use, being that it's WebOS. (I still blame those horrible Palm Pre commercials with the stoned albino -- why they didn't bother showing that it supported multitasking and copy & paste way before iOS, I have no clue)
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
So, would it be possible to detect the frantic exclamations as one drops the phone and then use the gyroscopes to either stabilize or twist the phone is such a was as to prevent damage on impact. When I drop my phone I'd like to see it flip over as it fell and land safely, much like a cat does. That would be a cool and useful feature.
Dilbert! Stop working on ant milk, and ant jerky. We need cat-like phone stabilization technology. Now!
Every app seems to want access to your full memory, location info, camera, microphone and contact list. Why does a flashlight app need all this?
I carry a phone because I have to for work, and I need something to read while on the crapper, and that's it. People who use all these fancy apps are the product, not the customer.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
... maybe even eligible for a genuine patent (not that I favor patent, but ...)
Can we just succumb to the inevitable and work on building a list of the parts of a smartphone that can't be used to spy on you? I'm thinking 'maybe the battery door'. Any other suggestions?
What's the point of securing any smartphone when all of your activity on the device is captured elsewhere and sold for profit?
The point being there IS an opportunity for anyone who comes up with a workable idea to really really lock down all your gadgets (not only smartphones but all electronic gadgets) so that even when the gadgets are powered up they can't leak _any_ information
Oh good ... a proof of concept from researchers with limited resources is only reliable 80% of the time. Nobody would want to improve on that. Nothing to see here.
The app doesn't use your microphone; or you deny it, or whatever. So the app uses the gyro to figure out what you are saying anyway - you have no idea it can even do this because it doesn't use the microphone. 3rd parties could AUDIT and secure the software for government or corporate use--- and it would still record gyro information.
A background app could listen constantly even while other apps have the mic if it can background and use the gyro.
A hacked app with only gyro access...
Think about the story weeks ago about using video cameras detecting vibrations to hear things and what next gen phones could do with that-- similar situation (but crazy battery usage even on futuristic more powerful phones.)
Future work:
ID which person in the family is carrying the phone using the gyros?
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
After that whole 'sound from any video of sufficient quality' demonstration, this is like childs play in comparison.
when the mic can be turned on remotely at any time, and anything it picks up can be sent anywhere? Same with the camera, and GPS data. So called smartphones are portable spying devices.
This is taking place on August 22, 2014.
Since a long long time ago (about 50 years now) we've been able to use nearby windows and computer monitors - even picture frames - to pick up sounds inside rooms.
Why bother with a cell phone if you're trying to get a good audio pickup?
If you need to isolate a person, it's not a bad choice, but you can also use the other signals your cell gives out or responds to for locating the person precisely, without technically "using" the phone, and thereby alerting the target.
But, hey, do it the hard way, if you must.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
my phone stays in my cargo pockets, When lean over in a chair to fart, they should be able to hear that fart loud and clear. now lets see them try to figure out what i ate? I also take my phone in the laveratory with me, so they should also have great opertunity to hear some of splash-logs greatest hits.
happy trials