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Hackng phone in vicinity1/21/2024 ![]() ![]() ![]() Indeed, the NSA catalogue of surveillance tools leaked last year, known as the ANT catalogue, describes something called the Cottonmouth-I, a hardware implant that resembles an ordinary USB plug except it has a tiny transceiver, called the HowlerMonkey, embedded in it for extracting data via RF signals. I guess the bad people can make it more sophisticated." 5 megabytes in size can take up to 15 hours to transmit.Įxtracting documents "would be very slow and it will take a long time," Mimran acknowledges, "but this is just a proof-of-concept. But Mimran notes that over time, a lot of sensitive data can still be extracted this way.Ī 100-byte password file takes 8-10 seconds to transmit using their method, and a day's worth of keystrokes takes up to 14 minutes to transmit this way. The proof-of-concept test allows for data to be transmitted at only 60 bytes a second-about a line of text per second-which limits the speed and volume at which attackers could siphon data. The researchers also devised methods for hiding the data transmission on the targeted machine to avoid detection, including transmitting data only when the monitor is turned off or in sleep mode and altering the FM receiver on the phone so that there is no audible tone when data is transmitted to it.Īlthough the distance for transmitting data from an infected computer to a mobile phone is limited-due to the limitations of the receiver in phones-attackers could use a stronger portable receiver, set up in a parking lot for example or installed on a drone flying overhead, to pick up data from greater distances. The malware can be programmed to store siphoned data on the infected machine for later transmission at specified hours or intervals. An attacker only needs to get their malicious transmitter code onto the targeted machine and then either install the malicious receiver component on the victim's mobile phone or use the attacker's own mobile phone in the vicinity of the computer to receive the data and transmit it to the attacker's command-and-control server. "This combination, of a transmitter with a widely used mobile receiver, creates a potential covert channel that is not being monitored by ordinary security instrumentation."ĪirHopper, however, doesn't require repeated action like this once the malware is installed. "With appropriate software, compatible radio signals can be produced by a compromised computer, utilizing the electromagnetic radiation associated with the video display adapter," the researchers write. The victim's own mobile phone can be used to receive and transmit the stolen data, or an attacker lurking outside an office or lab can use his own phone to pick up the transmission. The data can be picked up by a mobile phone up to 23 feet away and then transmitted over Wi-Fi or a cellular network to an attacker's command-and-control server. ![]() This method is very effective for transmitting short textual massages such as identifiers, key-stroking, keep-alive messages and notifications." "Using less than 40 distinct audio frequencies, we were able to encode simple textual data-both alphabetical and numerical. "ach letter or character was keyed with different audio frequency," they note in a paper released last week (.pdf) that describes their technique. But the exact technique for doing this has never been revealed. The spy agency has reportedly used the method in China, Russia and even Iran. An NSA catalogue of spy tools leaked online last year describes systems that use radio frequency signals to remotely siphon data from air-gapped machines using transceivers-a combination receiver and transmitter-attached to or embedded in the computer instead of a mobile phone. The attack recalls a method the NSA has been secretly using for at least six years to siphon data in a similar manner. ![]() All of this is done to keep important data out of the hands of remote hackers.īut these security measures may be futile in the face of a new technique researchers in Israel have developed for stealthily extracting sensitive data from isolated machines-using radio frequency signals and a mobile phone. Sometimes, workers are not even allowed to bring mobile phones within range of the computers. They're also not connected to other systems that are internet-connected, and their Bluetooth feature is disabled, too. Computers housing the world's most sensitive data are usually "air-gapped" or isolated from the internet. ![]()
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