This cunning cyber attack uses smartwatches to squeeze data from Air-Happy Systems
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- Academic researchers found a way to broadcast sensitive data from AirGapped Systems
- It means that malware is installed on the computer and a corresponding smartwatch
- The attack is quite difficult to pull out
Security experts claim to have found a way to steal sensitive data from AirGapped systems using smartwatches.
AirGapped computers are physically insulated from the wider internet and are not accessible remotely. They are usually used in environments with high security and critical infrastructure, to protect sensitive data and different operations.
University researchers, led by Mordechai Guri, a specialist in the field of secret attack channels, discovered a method with which threat factors can exhaust data, coding keys or key brushes.
Listen to secrets
The method, which they called ‘Smartattack’, comes with quite a bit of reservations, but in theory a threat actor sees a way to gain physical access to the goal computer, or to have access to someone (an unsuspecting or dissatisfied employee) and to implement a piece of malware.
That malware will first act as an infontaler and collect valuable information for exfiltration. Then it will use the speakers of the computer to send ultrasonic sounds, inaudible to the human ear, for the environment.
The sounds would be played in two frequencies – 18.5 kHz and 19.5 kHz. These two form the binary system, where the first is the zero, and the last – the one.
The last step is that the watch absorbs the sounds. It must also have installed a special app, so it must be compromised itself, or it must be worn by the attacker.
If that did not sound difficult enough, the watch must be confronted with the speakers and it must be placed on a range of 6-9 meters from the speakers. The data transfer speed also varies between 5bps and 50bps, depending on the distance.
There are different ways to prevent smartattacks from AirGapped Systems, to prevent people from wearing smartwatches to remove speakers from the computers. Sound jam players can also work.
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