Hackers can use soundwaves to steal personal data from computers, experts warn

German computer scientists have proved the idea is possible by developing a new type of malware that can travel between machines using sound waves that are inaudible to unsuspecting humans.Using built-in microphones and speakers in laptops, the researchers managed to transmit passwords and small amounts of data between machines 65ft away from each other.The terrifying […]

German computer scientists have proved the idea is possible by developing a new type of malware that can travel between machines using sound waves that are inaudible to unsuspecting humans.
Using built-in microphones and speakers in laptops, the researchers managed to transmit passwords and small amounts of data between machines 65ft away from each other.
The terrifying feat was achieved by computer scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics in Germany, The Huffington Post reported.
The researchers warned: ‘Acoustical networking as a covert communication technology is a considerable threat to computer security.’
The finding is of huge concern to computer security firms that currently isolate important machines which have no internet connection, using ‘air gaps’ to protect them.
Until now it has been thought that these computers would be safe from hackers but the new research, published in the Journal of Communications, casts doubt on this idea.
 The researchers wrote: ‘In our article, we describe how the complete concept of air gaps can be considered obsolete as commonly available laptops can communicate over their internal speakers and microphones and even form a covert acoustical mesh network.’
The computer scientists started investigating the idea of hacking computers using sound by imagining how tech savvy criminals might gain access to the most secure of machines.
They noted that in the past hackers have used ‘parts of the operating system that were not considered for communication’ to gain access to sensitive data’.
Consequently they came up with a hack using sound to steal data from ‘air gap’ protected machines and suggested that noise could be used to pass data between target computers and the ‘hacker’ machine.
The researchers chose to use sounds that are too high pitched for humans to hear and harnessed the microphone and speakers in a Lenovo T400 computer to transmit keystrokes from one computer to another.
The technique could also be used to pass small data files passwords and encryption keys between machines, they said.
While in the experiment, they only managed a data rate of 20 bits per second, the slow rate is still enough to transmit passwords and could no doubt be improved upon in time.
The experiment passed data between computers positioned 65ft apart but the scientists believe the range could be expanded using ‘mesh networks’ to transmit sound over long distances, enabling hackers to attack from afar.