- Jun 9, 2013
- 6,720
When it comes to guessing keystrokes from user behavior, telltale signs can say volumes. Researchers at Newcastle University have managed to guess a four-digit PIN on a smartphone using information about the way the phone is tilted.
And it’s not a lucky guess, either: They correctly identified the PIN with 70% accuracy for first attempt, and 100% accuracy by the fifth attempt.
The hack has to do with the fact that many sensors on a modern smartphone will share seemingly benign information—such as the gyroscope sharing the directional orientation of a device—with websites and apps without needing user permission.
In total, the computer science team identified 25 different sensors which now come as standard on most smart devices and are used to give different information about the device and its user. Only a small number of these—such as the camera and GPS—ask the user’s permission to access the device.
“Most smartphones, tablets and other wearables are now equipped with a multitude of sensors, from the well-known GPS, camera and microphone to instruments such as the gyroscope, proximity, NFC and rotation sensors and accelerometer,” said Maryam Mehrnezhad, a research fellow in the School of Computing Science at Newcastle and lead author on the paper detailing the findings.
Read More. Hackers Guess PINs from the Way You Tilt Your Smartphone
And it’s not a lucky guess, either: They correctly identified the PIN with 70% accuracy for first attempt, and 100% accuracy by the fifth attempt.
The hack has to do with the fact that many sensors on a modern smartphone will share seemingly benign information—such as the gyroscope sharing the directional orientation of a device—with websites and apps without needing user permission.
In total, the computer science team identified 25 different sensors which now come as standard on most smart devices and are used to give different information about the device and its user. Only a small number of these—such as the camera and GPS—ask the user’s permission to access the device.
“Most smartphones, tablets and other wearables are now equipped with a multitude of sensors, from the well-known GPS, camera and microphone to instruments such as the gyroscope, proximity, NFC and rotation sensors and accelerometer,” said Maryam Mehrnezhad, a research fellow in the School of Computing Science at Newcastle and lead author on the paper detailing the findings.
Read More. Hackers Guess PINs from the Way You Tilt Your Smartphone
