this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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439
Boffins convert typing sounds into text with 95% accuracy (www.theregister.com)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/technology
145 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Researchers in the UK claim to have translated the sound of laptop keystrokes into their corresponding letters with 95 percent accuracy in some cases.

That 95 percent figure was achieved with nothing but a nearby iPhone. Remote methods are just as dangerous: over Zoom, the accuracy of recorded keystrokes only dropped to 93 percent, while Skype calls were still 91.7 percent accurate.

In other words, this is a side channel attack with considerable accuracy, minimal technical requirements, and a ubiquitous data exfiltration point: Microphones, which are everywhere from our laptops, to our wrists, to the very rooms we work in.

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[–] FrankTheHealer 19 points 1 year ago (14 children)

Can we normalise good but quiet keyboards. Like, I like the tactile feel of using a mechanical, but I hate the sound. Quieter mechanical keyboards aren't a thing but they should be. Now as a security measure if nothing else.

Also Dvorak keyboards I guess

[–] VelociCatTurd 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are definitely quiet tactile switches. The reason why they can still make sound is because they’re bottoming out which you don’t have to do.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

As a partial solution, you can put o-rings in the keycaps. I had some of the bands for braces laying around at one point and used those, and it worked fairly well.

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