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.

  • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    It can be. Being a boffin, I’m not offended. Up to the individual if they choose to be offended.

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Still shitty journalism to refer to researchers publishing their research in that way.

      • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Meh, I wear such labels as badges of honor. I sacrificed a bit along the way to develop knowledge, skills, competence - I’ve earned it. Thanks for acknowledging it.

        I also see such things in a humorous light. I mean us “boffins” can be such boffins at times. We can over-focus, get caught up on perfectionism, etc, etc. If’n ya can’t laugh at your own foibles, well, I don’t know what to say.