Slashdot Mirror
Wireless Keylogger Masquerades as USB Phone Charger
msm1267 writes: Hardware hacker and security researcher Samy Kamkar has released a slick new device that masquerades as a typical USB wall charger but in fact houses a keylogger capable of recording keystrokes from nearby wireless keyboards. The device is known as KeySweeper, and Kamkar has released the source code and instructions for building one of your own. The components are inexpensive and easily available, and include an Arduino microcontroller, the charger itself, and a handful of other bits. When it's plugged into a wall socket, the KeySweeper will connect to a nearby Microsoft wireless keyboard and passively sniff, decrypt and record all of the keystrokes and send them back to the operator over the Web.
I am not a security expert, but what non-nefarious purpose does this product serve?
... because we really, REALLY needed people too stupid to think of this themselves to be given instructions on how to build one.
As if having to replace keyboard-batteries every 6 months wasn't reason enough. Is there really any benefit to having a keyboard be wireless, outside of a living room TV/PC scenario?
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Remember when we added networks to Windows 3.1? Remember how well that worked out? Remember how not having multi-user support totally didn't result in massive piles of insecure bug-ridden software full of viruses? Remember how antivirus software wasn't ever a thing?
Well, it seems we didn't learn here. Taking something that's not designed with security in mind and suddenly hitching it up to a network doesn't seem to be working well for anything really. What we've learned is that the market will quite happily replace everything we have with timebombs if it means they make a few bucks.
It doesn't - I can't think of a legitimate purpose other than snooping that this can serve.
This is why I hate large swaths of consumer products.
If the keyboard is encrypting keystrokes and sending them to the system....and a third party device sitting in the corner with no configuration involving dumping and loading keys....then the data is NOT encrypted.
If you use the same static key, or one of a few easily derivable keys, I don't care how solid the encryption alcogrythem you use is.... I do not consider it encrypted, because the use case took "strong encryption" and turned it into "weak obfuscation".
So unless there is some esoteric trick they are using to exploit the system and get their hands on a key that should otherwise be secure.... then its a disservice to the public to even call it encryption, because unless that is the case and they were genuinely compromised from a use case that should have otherwise been secure.... then all they did was use a fancy obfuscator.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Articles on new security breaking or testing devices never make sense from the perspective of why is this interesting. Another device that uses pretty vanilla methods to accomplish a trivial but scary sounding task. If it requires physical access or certain proximity, it's not novel, it's just a rehash of known methods for compromising devices not designed to be secure in the first place.
Hardware keyboard loggers have been around since the 80's. Now because this one does it over unlicensed RF, that makes it interesting? No. Sniffing RF keyboards has been done for nearly 10 years now.
And this one wastes the power of an Arduino when nothing remotely that sophisticated is required. Oh, I get it, buzzwords. Why didn't they use a Raspberry PI hooked up to the Arduino to upload the sniffing over Wifi and provide remote control. That has way more script kiddie / proto-board masher street cred.
If we're going to go all TEMPEST then they should try to grab video output from RF as well.
Sneakernet data had to be scanned too. I had a non-TSR version of McAfee on one of my DOS 6.x boxes.
I have very good experience walking past grave yards whistling.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
One more reason to hate wireless keyboards.... On top of the fact that you need to change their batteries, which usually pick the most entertaining time to die. Especially when most people don't bother moving their keyboard more than 3ft from their computer anyhow :P
As it is wireless has been a deal breaker with me for as long as I can remember.
you can:
1- use a non Microsoft keyboard
2- stop using wireless keyboards
3- sweep your office regularly for odd devices that you don't know where they came from
4- introduce another layer of encryption between the keyboard controller and the software level, rendering the captured keys meaningless.
5- Operate inside a faraday cage like Gene Hackman did in Enemy of the State
6- Do what Joe Sixpack does, surf porn sites, drink beer and not worry about things like this.
Oh, come on, people have been putting bugs in wall warts since there have been wall warts. Boris: Look, Natasha, nice little box, has constant power supply, wire for antenna. Natasha: Da. But not wood. Boris: Is now Nineteen-Sixties. Did you not see movie? Answer is "Plastic."
2% semen. (Roughly.)
obviously, this will be big among executive offices, saves time trying every password they have used in the past 20 years to watch videos during phone conferences.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
rather than just say no.
My company banned wireless devices without explanation. Even discussing getting one was so taboo, the IT guys are gonna freak... It would end the conversation with less disgruntlement if they put things in context for those who don't follow the "hacker community"...These people who want the deive for whatever reason conjure up Hollywood hacker movie images as they harrumph at the trumped up rules that won't let them get a wireless keyboard so they can clean their desk without the hassle. I myself would prefer a wireless keyboard as I move from embedded devices and building to building. Its a pain sometimes to coil up the keyboard but I can see how they might be exploited.
Finding a lost shiny white apple charger just sitting in the parking lot... an employee may pick it up and think, score, I don't need to carry my charger with me anymore. And if they don't scan for unauthorized wifi networks it could go unnoticed as logins and write-ups are being snooped on.
Dang this is NOT A STORY and the claim that this can work against all Microsoft Wireless Keyboards is 100% BS, and has been since 2007, when the issue was first uncovered; covered in depth by Schneier, and remedied in all versions of the Microsoft Wireless Keyboard created since then, which use at minimum 128-bit AES; NOT XOR.
It's 2015, not 2007 people...
Did you ever wake up in the morning, with a Zombie Woof behind your eyes? -- FZ
Can I use one of these as a replacement for the original wireless keyboard receiver? If I get more than five feet from the original receiver the keyboard doesn't work. This device is probably much better.
Another reason to avoid wireless keyboards unless absolutely necessary and security is of no concern.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
The receiver for my Microsoft wireless keyboard has to be 1' away from the keyboard or else I drop keystrokes pretty regularly. So unless this thing is laid right across the home-key row I'm not worried that it will pick anything useful up.
Mostly helping the hack job security companies have yet another dumb toy to trot out during demos and pentesting.
Fine, it's harvesting keystrokes. But how does it connect to the Internet to "send them back to the operator over the Web"?
Arduino Microcontroller? Is that kind of like an Atmel one? Or one of the clones?
Is there any way I can play dumb, and get some of these from a hacker? I never ever buy wireless keyboards (just what I don't need- a less reliable human input device), but I could really use some free USB chargers.
no
how is it gonna transmit data back to hacker, without gaining access to his crypted wifi connection, and what if he has none ?
LOL
If someone has physical access, they don't even need any fancy acoustic analyzing. They just need to plug a USB adapter between the keyboard and computer and it's unlikely anyone would ever notice before a fair bit of compromising information was recorded.