The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Computers => Topic started by: Elderberry on June 07, 2019, 01:07:35 pm
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Houston Chronicle by Hamza Shaban 6/6/2019
What if scammers could learn your password not from a massive cyberattack or taking control of your device, but from listening in as you type?
That's the startling premise of a recent study by researchers at Cambridge University and Sweden's Linköping University who were able to glean passwords by deciphering the sound waves generated by fingers tapping on smartphone touch screens.
Malicious actors can decode what a person is typing by using a spying app that can access the smartphone's microphone, according to the study, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. "We showed that the attack can successfully recover PIN codes, individual letters and whole words," the researchers wrote.
More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Hackers-may-glean-your-password-by-listening-to-13950372.php (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Hackers-may-glean-your-password-by-listening-to-13950372.php)
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Thing is, though, that they already have to have malware on your phone to use the microphone this way. In other words, they have to have already hacked you.
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Individual hackers are laughably insignificant when compared to corporate data harvesting. And they are doing it 24/7 365... Protected by the law.