I'll be honest, while normally the first post thing is pretty lame, writing a badass virus to do it would strike me as pretty cool and delightfully overkill.
I confess I didn't read the article closely and I assumed that they were using the laser mic like a regular laser mic.
However, the algorithms to pull keystrokes from an audio recording have been public since 2005, and have probably been used by government and bad guys for a lot longer than that.
According to that article, this can be done with a simple PC mic. For what it's worth, my basic experiments with DIY laser mics get almost as good of sound quality in the right conditions. It's not hard to imagine that somebody who actually understands optics and sound could get much better.
Buttons with different colored lights, or in the case of the Optimus Maximus, little LCD screens in every keyboard. The idea is that the display can be changed quickly.
You said that as a joke, but this would actually be the only practical use I can think of for the Optimus Maximus.
Obviously, it wouldn't be practical for normal use, but when you need to type passwords?
There are PIN pads and electric door locks that randomize the layout of the keypad to prevent people from watching the movement of your fingers or just looking at which buttons have fingerprints or don't have any dust on them.
The whole system uses statistical information to determine which key is being pressed, the same way cryptographers break basic ciphers by counting the number of occurrences of each letter. They likely will never realize the typist is using dvorak, and it won't matter.
The attacker effectively solves the dvorak/qwerty substitution cipher by listening to which keys are being pressed, not their physical location.
I don't know if they are using timing (some key combinations are faster to type in qwerty, or vice versa) in their matching of sound signatures to keys, but that's the only thing dvorak will help with, and given a big enough typing sample, it won't help that much.
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Anti-virus might be dead, but the AV companies threaten me every time I come close to the box.
Are you kidding? I've SEEN my perl code. I don't want to be stuck maintaining it.
This may be the first time I've ever wanted to do so, but I'd mod this Anonymous Coward up if I had points.
And I'm even a fan of PHP
I hate to be the one that says this, but... care to explain?
perl is for nihlists
It is concerning when macaroni and cheese stalks you.
Ah, well, you just need to get more of it, shoot it intravenously, and mix it with cocaine.
Wow. Meta-meta humor. My head is spinning.
On an unrelated note, Tonic water tastes funny without gin, but gin tastes fine without tonic.
I was thinking more like using 1000lb of thermite to cut an SUV in half, but you get the idea.
Actually, it's just a conspiracy from all of us security-types. We haven't had a good global-scale emergency in a while and were getting a bit bored.
There really is no a conficker. In fact, the name itself is an anagram for "Dan Kaminsky pwns joo"
I'll be honest, while normally the first post thing is pretty lame, writing a badass virus to do it would strike me as pretty cool and delightfully overkill.
I confess I didn't read the article closely and I assumed that they were using the laser mic like a regular laser mic.
However, the algorithms to pull keystrokes from an audio recording have been public since 2005, and have probably been used by government and bad guys for a lot longer than that.
According to that article, this can be done with a simple PC mic. For what it's worth, my basic experiments with DIY laser mics get almost as good of sound quality in the right conditions. It's not hard to imagine that somebody who actually understands optics and sound could get much better.
Buttons with different colored lights, or in the case of the Optimus Maximus, little LCD screens in every keyboard. The idea is that the display can be changed quickly.
It's still pretty good at reflecting it, and the reflections are what you record the windows' vibrations with.
I'm not sure it really even requires that secretive of projects.
Laser mics are cheap and easy to build. I can definitely see them being the future of surveillance tech.
It doesn't have to go through the window, it has to bounce off. The whole thing works by recording vibrations in the reflection.
They're also way easier to build. I was playing with them last weekend.
http://www.diylife.com/2007/08/22/diy-laser-long-distance-listening-device/
You don't need to shoot the laser through the window, you need to bounce it off.
You said that as a joke, but this would actually be the only practical use I can think of for the Optimus Maximus.
Obviously, it wouldn't be practical for normal use, but when you need to type passwords?
There are PIN pads and electric door locks that randomize the layout of the keypad to prevent people from watching the movement of your fingers or just looking at which buttons have fingerprints or don't have any dust on them.
Getting through the glass isn't a requirement. The light just has to bounce off.
Um. You mean shutters, not blinds. Blinds wouldn't help. Sound still hits the window, and the window still vibrates.
I'd rather you get blinds for your bathroom windows. Nobody needs to see that. Back at The Company, we call you "Naked Shower Dance Guy"
Besides, there's nobody watching you.
While historically, you're right, a pretty good case could be made for spelling it whatever way you damn well please.
That's kind of the nature, and the beauty of 13375P33k
I type with a one time pad- a monitor displays random numbers and I XOR them with the keycode I want in realtime.
Actually, it's not even that complicated.
The whole system uses statistical information to determine which key is being pressed, the same way cryptographers break basic ciphers by counting the number of occurrences of each letter. They likely will never realize the typist is using dvorak, and it won't matter.
The attacker effectively solves the dvorak/qwerty substitution cipher by listening to which keys are being pressed, not their physical location.
I don't know if they are using timing (some key combinations are faster to type in qwerty, or vice versa) in their matching of sound signatures to keys, but that's the only thing dvorak will help with, and given a big enough typing sample, it won't help that much.
You aren't trying to shoot the laser through the window, you're bouncing it off and reading the reflection.