Hackers Can Infect Your Computer Even If It's Not Connected To The Internet

One of the go-to strategies for securing a computer network when a machine is infected with malware is to remove that machine from the network. This effectively prevents the malware from spreading to other devices.

The technique is called "air-gapping" — network admins are building a "roadblock" quite literally made out of air to stop malicious computer code from propagating throughout a network. With no cables connecting the affected machine to the rest of the network, malware has no "road" by which to travel.

But air-gap malware has no need for a road. It travels through the air as sound waves to infect machines that it is physically near, no matter what network they may be a part of. Air-gap malware is that which is able to jump the air-gap by "translating" malicious computer code into high-frequency sound, then transmitting that sound to infect nearby computers.