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posted by Fnord666 on Monday August 12 2019, @06:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the because-DefCon dept.

Many modern gadgets can be hacked to produce deafening and disorienting sounds, research has revealed.

Security researcher Matt Wixey found a range of devices had little protection to stop themselves being turned into "offensive" low-grade, cyber-weapons.

Mr Wixey tested laptops, mobile phones, headphones, a PA system and several types of speakers.

The weaknesses could cause physical harm, harass individuals or disrupt larger organisations, he said.

Mr Wixey, who is a head of research at PWC's cyber-security practice, said he conducted the experiments as part of PhD work into the ways that malware can directly cause physical harm.

He sought to find out if the volume and speaker controls of the devices could be manipulated to make them produce harmful high and low frequency sounds.

Custom-made viruses, known vulnerabilities and other exploits were used to subvert the devices and make them emit the dangerous sounds for long periods of time.

"Some attacks leveraged known vulnerabilities in a particular device, which could be done locally or remotely in some cases," he told the BBC. "Other attacks would either require proximity to the device, or physical access to it."


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by ikanreed on Monday August 12 2019, @07:14PM (2 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 12 2019, @07:14PM (#879333) Journal

    We're of course, talking about dangerous as in "work in this noise level for 8 hours a day without earplugs and you're violating OSHA guidelines" and in reference to devices that can be disabled with a light tap from a hammer.

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  • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday August 13 2019, @05:35AM

    by captain normal (2205) on Tuesday August 13 2019, @05:35AM (#879503)

    At first glance I thought they were talking about motorcycles. You can always unplug a speaker.

    --
    When life isn't going right, go left.
  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 13 2019, @03:40PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 13 2019, @03:40PM (#879718) Journal
    Two points to note. First, that noise can be generated at a time when concentration is crucial - such as driving a car in heavy traffic or in the middle of gall bladder surgery. Second, the light tap from a hammer can disable thousands of dollars in electronics.