New research has revealed a new threat to our personal data and online security – the wired computer keyboard.
Researchers from the Security and Cryptography Laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland, have discovered that by using a simple radio antenna it is possible to remotely identify the key strokes entered into a wired computer keyboard from a distance of up to 20 meters away.
Martin Vuagnoux and Sylvain Pasini, doctoral students at EPFL, are the brains behind the research. They discovered that by analysing the electromagnetic waves produced by individual keystrokes it was possible to interpret exactly what was being typed in real time.
The duo tested 4 different attacks on 11 different makes and models of keyboard and found each one to be susceptible to at least one assault, with electromagnetic detection possible even through walls.
As a result, the team have now condemned the suitability of many of the wired keyboards currently available on the market for use in transmitting sensitive data, blaming the poor quality of the components used for their evident vulnerability.
"We conclude that wired computer keyboards sold in the stores generate compromising emanations (mainly because of the cost pressures in the design).
"Hence they are not safe to transmit sensitive information. No doubt that our attacks can be significantly improved, since we used relatively inexpensive equipments."
It is doubtless that this research has important implications for the security of any information we key in to our computers when we make payments or access account information online. However, more worryingly still, it also has a wider reach as it suggests that criminals could potentially use such electromagnetic tracking techniques to remotely steal sensitive information as it is keyed into ATMs, Chip and PIN machines and the like.
Full details of the study are not yet available; however Vuagnoux and Pasini have released a statement accompanied by sample videos of their experiment. It is expected that a comprehensive report will soon be published in a peer review journal.
