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.
This is old news. This article was published on 7 Aug 2023.
This method is far older than that, and it keeps popping up every so often as a “new” attack. First time I read about this method was in the early 2000’s, and I’m pretty sure it been done before that as well.
I first heard about it in the Snowden leaks, but I have no doubt it was discovered earlier.