As was reported in the October 23, 2008 edition of the eNews, Swiss researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique have developed a method for picking up the electromagnetic emanations from a computer’s keyboard cabling and other wires and decoding the work being typed on the computer, stroke for stroke. Now, another team of inveterate “keyboard spies” researchers Andrea Barisani and Daniele Bianco of Inverse Path have reported picking up keyboard signals from the keyboard ground cable. They have also been able to read keystrokes by pointing a laser microphone at the reflective surfaces of a laptop, such as the screen. With the laser’s very precise measurements of the vibrations on the screen’s surface caused by typing, they can figure out exactly what is being typed. Barisani and Bianco are scheduled to present their findings at theCanSecWest conference on hacking taking place this week in Vancouver, BC.A preview of their paper is posted on the Inverse Path website.
Attacking the PC
