Sniffing keystrokes with lasers, oscilloscopes
Researchers have devised two novel ways to eavesdrop on people as they enter passwords, emails, and other sensitive information into computers, even when they're not connected to the internet or other networks.
Exploiting vibrational patters and electromagnetic pulses that emanate with every character entered, the Italian researchers are able to remotely sniff keystrokes from significant distances. The techniques use inexpensive equipment and can be hard for targets to detect, making them ideal for snooping on unsuspecting people in the office or building next door.
"The data is there," Andrea Barisani, of security firm Inverse Path, told those attending the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. "That's the important thing you need to know: whenever you type your data goes somewhere else. Not many people think about that."L33tdawg: This talk will be updated into a HITB Lab session by the folks from InversePath at HITBSecConf2009 - Malaysia. Basically a hands-on session on how to build a sniffer like this for yourself :)
