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Security researchers at Ben-Gurion University in Israel have found a way to lift data from closed networks using little more than a standard computer monitor and FM radio waves. It's a pretty clever trick: researchers have created a keylogging app called AirHopper that can transmit radio frequencies by exploiting the PC's display. A companion app on an FM-equipped smartphone can decode those transmissions and record the host machine's keystrokes in real-time.
It's not the first time FM radio waves have been used to smuggle data out of an air gap network, but this method can be done without PC connected speakers and without either device being connected to an outside network. Like previous methods, it has a fairly short range (about 7 meters) and can't transmit more than a few bytes a second, but that's more than enough to nab passwords or other sensitive text data. The group has already released a short video of the exploit in action, and intends to publish a more detailed paper on the subject at Malcon 2014 later this week.
http://cyber.bgu.ac.il/content/how-leak-sensitive-data-isolated-computer-air-gap-near-mobile-phone-airhopper
http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/29/fm-data-leaking/
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday October 30 2014, @01:43PM
Perhaps it's time to invest in shielded walls?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 30 2014, @02:11PM
"Perhaps it's time to invest in shielded walls?"
That's only part of the solution. But knowing is 1/2 the battle ------- GI JOE!
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday October 30 2014, @03:45PM
I can't remember if it was the CIA or the NSA which had their whole building enclosed in a Faraday cage...
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday October 30 2014, @04:46PM
Just shows what's needed..
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Monday November 03 2014, @04:36PM
Sounds like that won't really help in this case. It says it has a seven meter range, which means your receiver will need to be inside the same building (and therefore inside the Faraday cage). So you infect the super secure PC, and you infect the FM-capable smartphone of the guy who works on it -- or the guy down the hall or downstairs. Then the worker goes outside and connects the same smartphone to an outside network and you use that to pass the data along.
Problem number one -- how do you coordinate infecting the right systems?
Problem two -- who the hell has a smartphone with an FM receiver these days?
Problem three -- last time I saw an FM receiver on a phone, the headphones were used as the antenna. No headphones, no reception.