Are You Listening to Your Headphones , or are Your Headphones Listening to You ?
Volume 9
Are You Listening to Your Headphones , or are Your Headphones Listening to You ?
Champions Edition
Using SPEAKE ( a ) R , malware that can covertly transform headphones into a pair of microphones , they show how commonly used technology can be exploited .
Malware that turns PCs into eavesdropping devices demonstrated by Ben-Gurion U
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev ( BGU ) have demonstrated malware that can turn computers into perpetual eavesdropping devices , even without a microphone .
In the new paper , “ SPEAKE ( a ) R : Turn Speakers to Microphones for Fun and Profit ,” the researchers explain and demonstrate how most PCs and laptops today are susceptible to this type of attack .
Prof . Yuval Elovici , director of the BGU Cyber Security Research Center ( CSRC )
“ The fact that headphones , earphones and speakers are physically built like microphones and that an audio port ’ s role in the PC can be reprogrammed from output to input creates a vulnerability that can be abused by hackers ,” says Prof . Yuval Elovici , director of the BGU Cyber Security Research Center ( CSRC ) and member of BGU ’ s Department of Information Systems Engineering .
“ This is the reason people like Facebook Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg tape up their mic and webcam ,” says Mordechai Guri , lead researcher and head of Research and Development at the CSRC .
“ You might tape the mic , but would be unlikely to tape the headphones or speakers .” ( Courtesy of Cyber Security Labs @ Ben Gurion University and YouTube )
A typical computer chassis contains a number of audio jacks , either in the front panel , rear panel or both . Each jack is used either for input ( linein ), or for output ( line-out ).
The audio chipsets in modern motherboards and sound cards include an option for changing the function of an audio port with software - a type of audio port programming referred to as jack re-
97