Boffins convert typing sounds into text with 95% accuracy
Boffins convert typing sounds into text with 95% accuracy
Your neighbor's clacking keys aren't just annoying - they're also exploitable
Researchers in the UK claim to have translated the sound of laptop keystrokes into their corresponding letters with 95 percent accuracy in some cases.
That 95 percent figure was achieved with nothing but a nearby iPhone. Remote methods are just as dangerous: over Zoom, the accuracy of recorded keystrokes only dropped to 93 percent, while Skype calls were still 91.7 percent accurate.
In other words, this is a side channel attack with considerable accuracy, minimal technical requirements, and a ubiquitous data exfiltration point: Microphones, which are everywhere from our laptops, to our wrists, to the very rooms we work in.
I think I might have achieved security through obscurity. My custom keyboard is a unique shape and almost all the keys are one unit. Not only is it different enough from a traditional keyboard that the neural network probably won't understand it, the function layers I use obscure whether I'm typing a letter at all.
41I guess my typos are now a security feature!
29I'd be curious how well this approach translates to multi-lingual keyboard layouts. For english users, perhaps theres another benefit to non-QWERTY layouts (e.g. Colemak or Dvorak) after all? ... and two factor authentication should remain helpful I presume. Especially physical key methods with no audible characters typed (e.g. Yubikey, Titan, etc.)
24Some laptops like the Framework laptop have fingerprint sensors
Physical Security keys like NitroKeys or YubiKeys are another option
16I wonder if different switches, keycap profiles, keyboard material ect affect the accuracy?
12I never learned to touch-type, so my typing style is very different from most people though I can type fast enough for work.
My typing style only uses 3 fingers, and both hands type keys in the middle of the keyboard.
I wonder if this has any effect on accuracy?
Edit: Article states touch-typing can reduce accuracy. Wonder if that's because they type more softly than us tech gorillas who tend to bash on the keys?
12How good does this work if there's other noise pollution? Like music playing etc?
10Is it ignorance, indemnity, or conspiracy that this News Media Corporation didn't give the primary mitigation?
A white noise generator.
9Might have to spend some time getting Easy Effects/Noise Torch set up on my systems again just to reduce the vectors again.
There is a good comment on this post on physical mitigation that seems helpful as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fedora/comments/uerp9z/comment/i6p0jqa/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
8This is the best summary I could come up with:
In other words, this is a side channel attack with considerable accuracy, minimal technical requirements, and a ubiquitous data exfiltration point: Microphones, which are everywhere from our laptops, to our wrists, to the very rooms we work in.
To make matters worse, the trio said in their paper that they've achieved what they claim is an accuracy record for acoustic side-channel attacks (ASCA) without relying on a language model.
Luckily in this case it's not power usage, CPU frequencies, blinking lights or RAM buses leaking data unavoidably, but a good old-fashioned problem occurring between the computer and chair that can actually be mitigated somewhat easily.
The researchers note that skilled users able to rely on touch typing are harder to detect accurately, with single-key recognition dropping from 64 to 40 percent at the higher speeds enabled by the technique.
Working among the clacking of phantom keyboards would surely annoy everyone, which is why the researchers suggest only adding the sounds to Skype and Zoom transmissions after they've been recording instead of subjecting employees to real-time noisemakers.
Followup research is now going on into using new sources for recordings, like smart speakers, better keystroke isolation techniques and the addition of a language model to make their acoustic snooping even more effective.
The original article contains 656 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 68%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
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1Article doesn't say but I would guess they are testing with words and using that to build context for better accuracy. I imagine if you are typing some random password it would not be as accurate. Also the only password I type nowadays is the one to unlock the computer, everything else is in a password vault.
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