SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the pay-attention-there-is-gonna-be-a-quiz dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Millions of low-cost wireless keyboards are susceptible to a vulnerability that reveals private data to hackers in clear text.
The vulnerability – dubbed KeySniffer – creates a means for hackers to remotely “sniff” all the keystrokes of wireless keyboards from eight manufacturers from distances up to 100 metres away.
“When we purchase a wireless keyboard we reasonably expect that the manufacturer has designed and built security into the core of the product,” said Bastille Research Team member Marc Newlin, responsible for the KeySniffer discovery. “Unfortunately, we tested keyboards from 12 manufacturers and were disappointed to find that eight manufacturers (two thirds) were susceptible to the KeySniffer hack.”
The keyboard manufacturers affected by KeySniffer include: Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, Kensington, Insignia, Radio Shack, Anker, General Electric, and EagleTec. Vulnerable keyboards are always transmitting, whether or not the user is typing. Consequently, a hacker can scan for vulnerable devices at any time. A complete list of affected devices can be found here.
Wireless keyboards have been the focus of security concerns before. In 2010, the KeyKeriki team exposed weak XOR encryption in certain Microsoft wireless keyboards. Last year Samy Kamkar’s KeySweeper exploited Microsoft’s vulnerabilities. Both of those took advantage of shortcomings in Microsoft’s encryption.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:28AM
That could be solved by randomizing the position of keys when password fields are being used. Not a feature I've seen, but...
(Score: 1) by fraxinus-tree on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:36AM
Have you ever tried to type on a randomized keyboard? Or even on a different keyboard layout?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:43AM
Tap, tap, tap. Argh. So many touchscreens. I've forgotten how to touch-type! This Star Trek TNG future sucks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:44AM
It's a 8-64 character password, not a 140 character tweet or 1,500 word essay.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @01:11PM
For you maybe... I use inspiring quotes from my manager: "The Acting Senior Manager of IT Operations institutionalizes future differentiators." or "The Chief Technical Catalyst standardizes a consistency at the individual, team and organizational level. The customers iterate high-level pyramids."
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday July 27 2016, @09:04PM
Then we come up with an icon based password dictionary titled "PHBs in their natural habitat"...
{manager}-{tps reports}-{hell_spike}-{anal_pineapple_bomb}-{rectal_prolapse}
{CEO}-{douchenozzle}-{space_ship}-{air_lock}-{surface_of_sun}
{PHB}-{etcha_sketch}-{laptop_shake}-{technical_documentation}
Randomize the icons on the screen, choose your actor, attributes, story, and final outcome :) It may double as a corporate stress reducer, unless forced to enter it during a major presentation.......
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.