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posted by martyb on Thursday January 26 2017, @05:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the Dear-aunt,-let's-set-so-double-the-killer-delete-select-all dept.

Interesting story at vocative.com

Demonic sounds are usually related to evil spirits, but researchers have found a way to turn them into "hidden voice commands" for Android devices.

A group of Ph.D. candidates at Georgetown and University of California, Berkeley developed a series of voice commands that can be recognized and executed by smartphone virtual assistants, but not very easily by human ears.

Some of the things these hidden commands can potentially do include sending a tweet, making a phone call, or even using Venmo to transfer money. Or, in a cyberattack scenario, a hidden command could open a website that automatically downloads malware, which then leads to hackers having full control of your device.

[...] A similar situation occurred earlier this month when a child accidentally ordered a $150 doll house from Amazon by simply asking Amazon's Alexa, "Can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?"

Those assistants need to recognize who is speaking...


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @07:12AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @07:12AM (#458843)

    who didn't know this after 1994? oh idiots

  • (Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Thursday January 26 2017, @08:27AM

    by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Thursday January 26 2017, @08:27AM (#458853)

    who didn't know this after 1994?

    I think that is a clipper chip reference, but cell phones did not use it as far as I know. Apparently GSM was a thing back then (but mainly a European thing).