Source URL: https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/10/05/2225224/mouse-sensors-can-pick-up-speech-from-surface-vibrations-researchers-show?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
Source: Slashdot
Title: Mouse Sensors Can Pick Up Speech From Surface Vibrations, Researchers Show
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AI Summary and Description: Yes
Summary: Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, have identified a security vulnerability in high-performance optical mice that can be exploited to capture audio data from a user’s environment, effectively turning the mouse into a listening device. This method poses significant risks to privacy and information security, especially as high-precision optical mice become increasingly accessible.
Detailed Description:
– Researchers have developed a method to exploit high-quality optical mice, leveraging their sensitivity to detect subtle acoustic vibrations from surfaces beneath them.
– This technique involves using machine learning and signal processing to convert vibrations into audible audio, potentially capturing private conversations unwittingly.
– Key points of analysis include:
– Vulnerable hardware: High-performance optical mice with a polling rate of 20,000 DPI or higher are specifically susceptible to this type of attack.
– Attack execution: The attack does not require complex software intrusions; even benign software or applications, which gather mouse data, can facilitate this vulnerability.
– Data extraction: Once the mouse data is collected from a user’s computer, it can be sent off-site for further processing, allowing unauthorized listeners to reconstruct speech.
– Quality of audio capture: The researchers acknowledge that while the captured audio quality is low, signal processing techniques can enhance and intelligibly reconstruct user speech.
– Implications for user privacy: This research highlights the critical intersection of hardware security and user privacy, illustrating how commonplace peripherals can introduce security risks.
– The researchers have titled their study “Invisible Ears at Your Fingertips: Acoustic Eavesdropping via Mouse Sensors,” underscoring the alarming potential for personal data breaches through everyday devices.
This discovery calls for increased awareness among manufacturers, security professionals, and users regarding the privacy vulnerabilities posed by advanced peripheral technologies, emphasizing the need for stringent information security measures.