Hack Alert! Hackers could listen to the sound of typing on a
person’s phone via a nearby smartphone and intercept what’s being typed.
Possibly, the acoustic signals or sound waves produced when
a message is typed on a computer or a keyboard could be picked up by a
smartphone.
The sound could later be processed leading an expert hacker
to easily decode which keys were hit and ultimately what was it that was typed.
Allegedly, this trick could work in a busy hall filled with
people chattering and typing as well, because researchers tried it out.
Sources mention that the researchers could intercept what’s
being typed with a “41% word accuracy rate”. It might take only a couple of
seconds to know what’s being typed.
The results of the research sure are disconcerting and
privacy and security levels of the smartphones and their sensors have got to be
taken to a higher level.
From detecting if a phone is still or in a pocket, to
detecting if it’s on the move; with the enhanced technology, sensors too have
come a long way.
Some sensors need permission whereas most of them are set to
function as a default. Per sources, the researchers had in their analysis used
the later.
All they did was develop an application that could intercept
the sound of typing and detect which key exactly is hit.
According to researchers the material of the table at which
the keyboard is placed, plays a crucial role in the entire process as the keys
sound different on different materials.
