Electromagnetic keyboard eavesdropping research revealed

Keystokes can be monitored

21 October 2008 13:23 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

What you type on an ordinary keyboard can no longer be considered secure, as scientists have discovered a way to analyse the electromagnetic signals produced by every key press - even at a distance of 20 metres.

Studying the signals made by keystrokes Swiss researchers from the Security and Cryptography Laboratory at the Swiss Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne have been able to reproduce what the subject typed.

The researchers used a radio antenna to "fully or partially recover keystrokes" and managed to develop four different "attacks" that work on a variety of computer keyboards.

Keyboards that connect via USB or a PS/2 socket were vulnerable as were keyboards embedded in laptops. The researchers state that keyboards are "not safe to transmit sensitive information".

Related
Full tags
Biz, Mice And Keyboards, Security
UK Shopping
Amazon.co.uk, play.com, pixmania.co.uk, Currys.co.uk, Dixons.co.uk, 7dayshop.com, ebay.co.uk
US Shopping
Amazon.com, bestbuy.com, ebay.com

share Subscribe to RSS feeds email story save story print story pdf

Comments

(Will not be published)

  (Next time sign in to bypass captcha)

Latest in Biz

Latest on Pocket-lint.com

About Pocket-lint

Pocket-lint is your one stop shop for gadgets, technology and consumer electronics, bringing you the low-down on the latest televisions, cameras, phones, GPS and much more. Whether it's learning about what's hot in the world of Apple, finding out about the latest home cinema kit from Samsung and Sony or merely seeing what not to buy, we have you covered. So check out our reviews, news, comment, hands-on photo galleries and videos. Enjoy.

Pocket-lint.com poll

Q. Do you still buy CDs?

Vote YES Vote NO

» LAST TIME
When asked Do you want the Droid by Motorola? 53% said yes and 47% said no

Top 10 Broadband

Compare 50+
broadband packages

Home Broadband »

Top products

tip us on news

reviews hub

Rss feed

Follow us on Twitter