Category: eavesdropping

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Arguing Against CALEA

Posted on By infossl
CALEA, cybersecurity, eavesdropping, national security policy, Security technology, telecom, Uncategorized

At a Congressional hearing earlier this week, Matt Blaze made the point that CALEA, the 1994 law that forces telecoms to make phone calls wiretappable, is outdated in today’s threat environment and should be rethought: In other words, while the legally-mandated CALEA capability requirements have changed little over the last three decades, the infrastructure that … Read More “Arguing Against CALEA” »

Backdoor in TETRA Police Radios

Posted on By infossl
backdoors, cryptography, eavesdropping, encryption, infrastructure, law enforcement, police, radio, Security technology, Uncategorized

Seems that there is a deliberate backdoor in the twenty-year-old TErrestrial Trunked RAdio (TETRA) standard used by police forces around the world. The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), an organization that standardizes technologies across the industry, first created TETRA in 1995. Since then, TETRA has been used in products, including radios, sold by Motorola, Airbus, … Read More “Backdoor in TETRA Police Radios” »

Recovering Smartphone Voice from the Accelerometer

Posted on By infossl
academic papers, eavesdropping, Security technology, side-channel attacks, smartphones, Uncategorized

Yet another smartphone side-channel attack: “EarSpy: Spying Caller Speech and Identity through Tiny Vibrations of Smartphone Ear Speakers“: Abstract: Eavesdropping from the user’s smartphone is a well-known threat to the user’s safety and privacy. Existing studies show that loudspeaker reverberation can inject speech into motion sensor readings, leading to speech eavesdropping. While more devastating attacks … Read More “Recovering Smartphone Voice from the Accelerometer” »

Ukraine Intercepting Russian Soldiers’ Cell Phone Calls

Posted on By infossl
cell phones, eavesdropping, iphone, russia, Security technology, smartphones, ukraine, Uncategorized

They’re using commercial phones, which go through the Ukrainian telecom network: “You still have a lot of soldiers bringing cellphones to the frontline who want to talk to their families and they are either being intercepted as they go through a Ukrainian telecommunications provider or intercepted over the air,” said Alperovitch. “That doesn’t pose too … Read More “Ukraine Intercepting Russian Soldiers’ Cell Phone Calls” »

Copying a Key by Listening to It in Action

Posted on By infossl
eavesdropping, keys, locks, physicalsecurity, Security technology

Researchers are using recordings of keys being used in locks to create copies. Once they have a key-insertion audio file, SpiKey’s inference software gets to work filtering the signal to reveal the strong, metallic clicks as key ridges hit the lock’s pins [and you can hear those filtered clicks online here]. These clicks are vital … Read More “Copying a Key by Listening to It in Action” »

iPhone Apps Stealing Clipboard Data

Posted on By infossl
apple, dataloss, eavesdropping, ios, Security technology, video

iOS apps are repeatedly reading clipboard data, which can include all sorts of sensitive information. While Haj Bakry and Mysk published their research in March, the invasive apps made headlines again this week with the developer beta release of iOS 14. A novel feature Apple added provides a banner warning every time an app reads … Read More “iPhone Apps Stealing Clipboard Data” »

Eavesdropping on Sound Using Variations in Light Bulbs

Posted on By infossl
academicpapers, eavesdropping, Security technology, sidechannelattacks

New research is able to recover sound waves in a room by observing minute changes in the room’s light bulbs. This technique works from a distance, even from a building across the street through a window. Details: In an experiment using three different telescopes with different lens diameters from a distance of 25 meters (a … Read More “Eavesdropping on Sound Using Variations in Light Bulbs” »

How Did Facebook Beat a Federal Wiretap Demand?

Posted on By infossl
aclu, courts, crime, eavesdropping, encryption, facebook, privacy, Security technology, surveillance

This is interesting: Facebook Inc. in 2018 beat back federal prosecutors seeking to wiretap its encrypted Messenger app. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is seeking to find out how. The entire proceeding was confidential, with only the result leaking to the press. Lawyers for the ACLU and the Washington Post on Tuesday asked a … Read More “How Did Facebook Beat a Federal Wiretap Demand?” »

Russia Is Trying to Tap Transatlantic Cables

Posted on By infossl
eavesdropping, ireland, russia, Security technology

The Times of London is reporting that Russian agents are in Ireland probing transatlantic communications cables. Ireland is the landing point for undersea cables which carry internet traffic between America, Britain and Europe. The cables enable millions of people to communicate and allow financial transactions to take place seamlessly. Garda and military sources believe the … Read More “Russia Is Trying to Tap Transatlantic Cables” »