this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2024

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Privacy

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217

Open source laser microphone picks up laptop keystrokes (www.wired.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Agent 1: "He's about to type his password. Here we go... 1...2..3..A..B..C"

Agent 2: "I feel like we could have figured this out with brute-force"

Agent 1: "Wait! He's on the move. ..no he was just scratching his balls. ... Judging from the sound of it, I'd say he hasn't trimmer his balls for a long time."

Agent 2: "The AI picks up at least 15cm long strands, and some breadcrumbs. 50% rye, 50 wheat. Is that nutella and ketchup?"

Agent 1: "Dear God, what a freak".

Agent 2 takes note. "He's basically a sex offender at this point"

The future is now.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Agent 1: "yeah. hes the sex offender."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Everybody is offended by an idea of a sex with them

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_JNGI1dI-e8

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Another great reason to use a custom, constantly shifting keyboard layout

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

RIP touch typing

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I use blank key caps, and I find it leads to much more comfortable touch typing.

Slower, sure, but cozier also

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

fiojvd gff uiig fvg. Hh

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

It's just a question of matching pattern with most used words against languages...

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Dude in the thumbnail looks like an un-and-coming Bond villain.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Dude in the thumbnail is Samy. He's been a bond villain for a long time now.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The article doesn't mention how it compensates for different keyboards. Like wouldn't different switches and wear change the sound?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

That's because it's Wired. Basically a big ass advertisement.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

It sounds like bs but its cause that's been solved since around Roman times, heres a pretty interesting website on the technique

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Laughs in DVORAK. This is some pretty funny Schitzotroll.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

it's heuristic, so it doesn't matter what layout you use.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

he look silly

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

And perhaps he was named Billy

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Make it a UV laser and it would be invisible.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 months ago (3 children)

demonstrating that he can point a laser that's invisible to the human eye at a faraway laptop, through a window, and detect the computer's vibrations to reconstruct virtually every character typed on it

Infrared is not visible

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It is visible to security cameras

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Ahh ok, that's what you meant before I guess

Since that function is usually meant for night vision, I wonder how well a security camera can pick out the laser during the day i.e. when the IR sensors are being swamped by daylight also coming in through the window

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Infrared doesn't pass through windows.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

actually thats UV. transition lenses won't change with a glass window thats not open. infrared is basically heat and does indeed pass through. Cars in the sun would not get hot so fast if they did not let in infrared.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I have an IR camera and windows look like mirrors. Might depend on the type of glass idk.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

if this yahoo from the internet I found in a search is right then its both:

"Glass will bock low frequency IR (red hot), but allow the passage of high frequency (white hot) IR. Hence, the heat of the sun will easily pass into a greenhouse, but once this energy is converted into low frequency heat by the objects within that absorb it, then the resulting low frequency heat is trapped. Hence, the Greenhouse Effect."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

That makes a lot of sense, thanks for doing the homework!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Some UV is blocked by glass. Either UVA or UVB. It doesn't block both.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I'm not going to argue with you but you should read the article perhaps? It's pretty specific about where the laser is aimed vis a vis windows and whatnot

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Infrared is not visible

To humans

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago

It's already infrared. Also, UV is partially visible to humans in some scenarios.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

On screen keyboard rides again!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Binoculars

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So they can hear me type p + enter into my browser?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Ah, another pterodactyl aficionado!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

My keyboard is loud enough that it can be heard that far away anyway

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Came to find out about the audio quality of this exceptional microphone.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Oddly enough - all my keystrokes sound exactly the same which makes this person's claim so much bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Maybe to you, but with a proper algorithmic analysis of the sounds differences can be fingerprinted and differentiated.

[+] [email protected] -8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

So how do we fix this? Dumb nerds never think about the consequences of their creations.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

From the article: "Even knowing that Kamkar's silent, invisible, long-distance laser spy trick exists, how does anyone hide their secrets from it? He suggests that companies install double-paned or reflective glass. Some security device companies also sell protection devices that affix to windows and vibrate them to prevent laser microphone spying, and Kamkar concedes he hasn't tested his attack against those. But he also suggests a safer countermeasure: “Don't work on computers visible from a window,” he says. “Or just have dirty windows.”"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Companies can't even be convinced to have longer passwords on their wifi. And open office plans mean every computer faces a window

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Then companies deserved to be hacked. shrug

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

But I work at companies and I would like my info to not be hacked. Their fuck ups affect employees and customers

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

And they should be held liable for the costs occurred to employees and customers.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Play loud music and walk on a treadmill while on the PC. Type using stroke length of your cock to determine which letter to use.

There, not so dumb now, are we?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

What a strange response.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Sorry I can't hear you over my jet engine case fans