Hackers have learned how to hack computers with high-frequency beeps

Recent studies show that through the use of microphones and speakers that come with any modern laptop and mobile device, hackers can seamlessly transmit and receive data from you, using high-frequency audio signals that are almost unheard of in the human ear.

Michael Hanspach and Michael Getz, researchers at the German Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processes and Ergonomics, have recently shown that creating a “hidden acoustic network,” an information transmission system that was considered impossible, is actually possible.

Details of this discovery were published in the Journal of Communications and can play a very important role in the knowledge of electronic security systems.

“If you have high demands for information security, you definitely need knowledge of countermeasures,” says Hanschpach.

The bottom line is that now even computers in the air gap system can be hacked, that is, those machines that are not connected to the Internet.

"This is really a new hacking technique," commented retired US Navy captain Mark Hagerott, a professor of cyber security at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.

“This whole race between developing technologies of defense and attack has been going on for a very long time. However, now that the cost of writing code has become very low, it is becoming increasingly difficult to develop the necessary means of protection, ”continues Hagerott, who did not take part in this study.

As part of their experiments, Hanspach and Getz were able to transfer small data packets between two Lenovo laptops located in an air gap system (that is, a closed internal network) at a distance of up to 20 meters. Moreover, by adding additional devices capable of receiving audio signals to a closed network and transmitting them to other devices located nearby, the scientists were able to create a cellular network capable of transmitting data over much more remote distances. It is also important to point out that for such experiments, scientists used the transmission and recording of ultrasonic and near-ultrasonic frequencies that a person cannot detect if he has a normal set of sound processor, speakers and microphone, that is, those things that are present in all in the market of modern laptops.

The experiments were carried out with a variety of software, but the program developed for transmitting data under water showed itself best of all. The so-called adaptive communication system was developed by the Research Department of Underwater Acoustics and Marine Geophysics in Germany. It turned out to be the most successful of all the others, but at the same time it has one significant limitation: the program is capable of transmitting a signal only at a very low speed of about 20 bits per second - this is nothing compared to the speed offered by the standard of modern networks.

However, despite the fact that it is completely unsuitable for transferring video and other large files, it is quite enough to transmit and receive information about certain pressed buttons when entering the same password, or, for example, encrypted keys and data about this or that user.

“If you have very important files of small size, then there is a certain probability of their theft,” suggests Hanschah.

Low data transfer rate is also suitable for activation via electronic signals of malicious software installed on a computer, for example, with a connected USB flash drive. According to Hanschpach, all this can cause a chain reaction and infect the entire closed network.

In addition, referring to examples of history, the scientist is confident that the development of this technology and the increase in its data transfer rate is a matter of time only.

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/technology/xakery-nauchilis-vzlamyvat-kompyutery-vysokochastotnymi-zvukovymi-signalami.html.