- Jun 9, 2013
- 6,720
Headphones and other speaker devices plugged into a computer’s audio output jack can be converted into a microphone that secretly records nearby conversations by modifying the device’s software via malware, according to a new research report.
Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel have created this proof-of-concept malware, named SPEAKEaR, which exploits an option found in Realtek Semiconductor Corp. audio chipsets called jack retasking or remapping, which allows a user to change the function of an audio port at the software level. In other words, an output jack typically used to project sounds can be switched to an input jack that instead records audio, allowing attackers to eavesdrop.
These chipsets are found in most modern motherboards and sound cards, the report explains, thus making a majority of today's PCs and laptops susceptible.
Ben-Gurion University researchers Mordechai Guri, Yosef Solewicz, Andrey Daidakulov and Yuval Elovici conducted a test of the malware, documenting their findings in a YouTube demonstration in which headphones connected to a computer are used to record Chubby Checker singing “The Twist” on a television set across the room.
Indeed, the report concludes that technique is effective at capturing intelligence audio with earphones “up to several meters away.”
Read More. Can you hear me now? Malware turns headphones into mics for eavesdropping
Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel have created this proof-of-concept malware, named SPEAKEaR, which exploits an option found in Realtek Semiconductor Corp. audio chipsets called jack retasking or remapping, which allows a user to change the function of an audio port at the software level. In other words, an output jack typically used to project sounds can be switched to an input jack that instead records audio, allowing attackers to eavesdrop.
These chipsets are found in most modern motherboards and sound cards, the report explains, thus making a majority of today's PCs and laptops susceptible.
Ben-Gurion University researchers Mordechai Guri, Yosef Solewicz, Andrey Daidakulov and Yuval Elovici conducted a test of the malware, documenting their findings in a YouTube demonstration in which headphones connected to a computer are used to record Chubby Checker singing “The Twist” on a television set across the room.
Indeed, the report concludes that technique is effective at capturing intelligence audio with earphones “up to several meters away.”
Read More. Can you hear me now? Malware turns headphones into mics for eavesdropping
