X
Tech

Keystroke logger of the worst kind: a microphone

Just when you thought anti-spyware technology was making it safe to compute again, researchers at the University of California have come up with a new form of spyware using some old technology: a microphone.  According to a story on ScientificAmerican.
Written by David Berlind, Inactive

Just when you thought anti-spyware technology was making it safe to compute again, researchers at the University of California have come up with a new form of spyware using some old technology: a microphone.  According to a story on ScientificAmerican.com, with 88 percent accuracy (after certain algorithms were applied), the researchers "successfully decoded what was typed into a computer from an audio recording" of the sounds made by the clickety clack of a keyboard. Called "acoustical spying," one of the researchers concluded "If we were able to figure this out, it's likely that people with less honorable intentions can, or have, as well." 

Editorial standards