A study by the University of California, Irvine (UCI) called Don’t Skype & Type! (PDF) found that typing done during a video call using Skype, for example, could be recorded and translated from sound into text. This could prove handy for people with nefarious things on their mind. Mark James, Security Specialist at ESET commented below.
Mark James, Security Specialist at ESET:
“We have seen similar types of attacks both physical and digital in the past, it’s why security key codes are tone neutral. It’s why we should consider how clean or dirty our keyboards are, but we need to put this into perspective, it will only work on certain keyboards. The headset used may also very much affect the success rate of this type of attack. It is possible this could enable someone to steal your credentials but I think there are a lot of other things you should have on your list of security worries before this particular one.
I don’t personally think this attack method will gain much headway, it is an attack without doubt and one you should consider along with all the other methods used to attain your details without permission.”
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