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Hackers Could Use Your Headphones to Eavesdrop on You

Hackers Could Use Your Headphones to Eavesdrop on You

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 23 November 2016 14:50 IST

Highlights

This hack was demoed by researchers from the Ben Gurion University
It turns headphones into covert listening devices
This hack is possible due to a lesser-known RealTek audio chip feature

There have been many loopholes reported in smartphones and PCs that could potentially make it susceptible to attacks by unethical hackers. The latest loophole was found by researchers at Israel's Ben Gurion University who claim that that a quick hack can convert headphones or earphones into makeshift covert listening devices easily.

Researchers Mordechai Guri, Yosef Solewicz, Andrey Daidakulov, Yuval Elovici have published a paper demonstrating its proof-of-concept software called SPEAKE(a)R. This software can covertly turn the headphones connected to a PC or laptop into a microphone. In their video, they demonstrate an attack scenario where the malware can use a computer as an eavesdropping device, even when the microphone is not present, muted, taped, or turned off.

Paranoid users often open up their laptops/PCs to remove the inbuilt microphone, and some even tape their web cameras to prevent their devices from being used to spy on them. However Guri tells Wired, "People don't think about this privacy vulnerability. Even if you remove your computer's microphone, if you use headphones you can be recorded."

The report explains that the Ben Gurion researchers demonstrated this hack by using a RealTek audio codec chip feature to switch the PCs output channel as an input channel. The researchers further claim that these RealTek chips are extremely common and work on almost every computer out there - be it running on Windows or macOS. "This is the real vulnerability. It's what makes almost every computer today vulnerable to this type of attack," explains Guri.

Through the loophole, the researchers claim that hackers can record audio coming from as far as 20 feet away, and then compress it to make it easily shareable on the Internet. Many users are paranoid about their devices being hacked, and they take different measures to prevent it. For example, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tapes his web camera to prevent hackers from spying in through the lens. However, a simple quick fix won't eradicate this vulnerability. The researchers claim that replacing and redesigning the RealTek chip on all current and future computers is the only effective solution for now.

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