Acoustic Keyboard Eavesdropping

[Sunder]

Not new news, but interesting anyway.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/magazine/12ACOUSTIC.html
(bugmenot's your uncle)

Acoustic Keyboard Eavesdropping
By STEPHEN MIHM

Published: December 12, 2004

When it comes to computer security, do you have faith in firewalls? Think 
passwords will protect you? Not so fast: it is now possible to eavesdrop 
on a typist's keystrokes and, by exploiting minute variations in the 
sounds made by different keys, distinguish and decipher what is being 
typed. 

<SNIP>

This means that firewalls and passwords will amount to nothing if someone 
manages to bug a room and record the cacophony of keystrokes. Asonov 
managed to pull off this feat with readily available recording equipment 
at a short distance. Even as far away as 50 feet, and with significant 
background noise, he was able to replicate his success using a parabolic 
microphone. He also anticipated an obvious practical objection: how does a 
would-be eavesdropper get into a building and spend enough time to 
''train'' a computer program to recognize the keystrokes of a particular 
keyboard? Not a problem: it seems that keyboards of the same make and 
model sound sufficiently alike -- regardless of who is typing -- that a 
computer trained on one keyboard can be unleashed on another.

<SNIP>



----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos---------------------------
 + ^ + :"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we.  /|\
  \|/  :They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country /\|/\
<--*-->:and our people, and neither do we." -G. W. Bush, 2004.08.05 \/|\/
  /|\  :                                                             \|/
 + v + :    War is Peace, freedom is slavery, Bush is President.
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