So be able to get your house broken into and you feel like vulnerable and like really paranoid after that or maybe get your identity stolen and the same thing applies you feel really paranoid and kind of like just creeped out in general like you're really really on edge.
If this video accomplishes what I hope it accomplishes then you'll feel that way by the end of this video.
Oh, that's kind of the goal. So stick around. And then by the end I'll explain like countermeasures so hopefully you don't actually leave feeling freaked out but I want you to have kind of an understanding of acoustic side channel attacks in general because I think it's important.
So we'll start off with a comparison, probably like a scenario. So imagine someone steals your credit card number without like ever touching your computer or your credit card or anything like that, right? Like they never actually hack your network or exploit any vulnerability that exists that you have that's software related.
Instead, they simply listen to sounds your device makes while processing information.
Yeah, it's like welcome to the world of acoustic side channel attacks, my friend, where hackers or adversaries can extract sensitive data just by analyzing the sounds that electronic devices actually produce during their normal operation.
So think about typing your pin, right? Like in an ATM machine, each button produces a very distinct beep just like on a telephone. They all have like different frequencies, right?
So when you press these buttons that make these sounds and while these beeps might sound a lot alike to our ears, each one is actually really really distinct and slightly different acoustically.
So someone could record those beeps and analyze their actual unique characteristics and reconstruct your pin number without traditional hacking techniques and your devices are producing these information rich sounds constantly, right?
Like at this very moment, your laptop fan, for example, changes speed in patterns that reveal what your processor is actually calculating, right?
Like how hard it's working. Your keyboard creates unique acoustic signatures for every single key that's pressed like the space key sounds different than the enter key sounds different than the escape key, right?
So like even the electronic circuits though inside your phone actually emit tiny vibrations that carry information about their operations and with the right equipment and the knowledge a adversary could capture and decode these sounds to extract things like passwords, encryption keys and other kinds of sensitive data simply by listening to the acoustic emissions from your device that naturally gets produced.
So let's look at like how electronic devices actually make sound on a really basic kind of fundamental way.
So one of the fundamental principles that most people never actually learn about when it comes to things like electronics is that when electricity flow through any material, it creates a physical vibration at the molecular level.
Like this is really just basic physics that can't be prevented or eliminated altogether.
Like every single electronic component in your computer basically vibrates when electricity current passes through it.
And these vibrations disturb the surrounding air molecules.
I told you, I told you, you're going to be very worried by the end of this, but but they disturb the surrounding air molecules and they create pressure waves.
So it's the best way I can describe it that propagate outward as sound, if that makes sense.
So like some of these sounds fall within the human hearing like range, like the world of like a cooling fan, for example, right?
Well, a lot of them actually exist at frequencies or volumes below our actual perception threshold.
And like I'm half deaf, so way below my perception threshold.
I'm actually I can't hear in this ear.
So there's a side issue.
The the critical insight here, though, is that the different computational operations create very distinct vibrational patterns, right?
And when your computer calculates, for example, like your tax return, the processor executes one specific sequence of operations that creates one acoustic pattern.
And when they encrypt your banking password, it performs a different calculation that produces a entirely different acoustic signature all together.
Opening your email creates yet another unique pattern sound that is distinguishable on like that small level.
So think of it like the old dial up internet modems from like the 1990s through that old remember, like there's the strange like screeching sounds and buzzing sounds that were admitted when you were actually connecting.
Like that was literally digital data being converted into acoustic signals for transmission over your phone lines, like your modern devices are doing basically the same thing.
They're converting their digital operations into physical vibrations and sounds just out like, like much lower volumes and really kind of different frequencies.
The difference is that quiet doesn't mean silent, right?
Like, and it certainly doesn't mean secure from acoustic surveillance.
Oh, yeah, that's a thing.
And the science behind sound based hacking basically is sound waves, right?
And then they aren't just random noise that fills the air that's around.
They actually contain structured patterns that encode information about their actual source.
And these patterns can be captured and analyzed and decoded to actually reveal some really surprising details.
Like when you when you actually look at it.
So consider how your voice, for example, works as an analogy.
When you say the word hello, your vocal cords vibrate in a pretty specific pattern that creates a unique sound wave.
And when you say goodbye, that pattern is obviously completely different.
And a person listening can decode these patterns to understand the actual words.
So electronic devices operate on that same kind of principle where every computational action produces its own like distinctive acoustic fingerprint, right?
I hope my analogies don't suck here.
Like the frightening development really, though, is like how sophisticated recording equipment has actually become nowadays.
So professional grade microphones, right?
Consisting of just a few hundred dollars can out detect vibrations so minute that you would need like laboratory grade instruments and equipment to actually observe them through any other method.
And once these nearly like imperceivable sounds are actually captured, modern computer analysis can actually identify patterns that would be completely invisible to human perception.
And machine learning has revolutionized acoustic attack capabilities.
Like researchers can train neural networks on the thousands of different keyboard recordings and male, female keyboard production years and types and all that stuff.
Teaching the algorithm that this specific sound pattern actually means someone hit the letter A on whatever kind of keyboard, whether it's a man or woman.
Now, once you feed this trained system a new recording of someone typing, for example, it can reconstruct the entire documents with pretty scary accuracy, basically.
And what we're describing is essentially superhuman hearing capability combined with perfect memory, right?
Infinite patience and the ability to actually detect patterns across massive data sets, right?
And these are capabilities that acoustic attackers can now deploy against your devices.
Common attack methods, for example, would be like keyboard sound analysis.
So let's look at one of the most accessible acoustic attacks that are actually around.
And we'd check this out in detail.
So your keyboard, to you, obviously, could seem just like an IO device, right?
Like an input device.
But it's actually broadcasting every character that you actually type through sound.
Every key on your keyboard produces a subtly different sound, acoustic signature, if you will, when pressed.
And the spacebar at the bottom of the keyboard, like I was talking about earlier, creates a different vibration.
Then the Q key or the ones at the top or whatever, that the manufacturing company
put in there, right?
Like, and there's all the other manufacturing variations that exist as well.
And how the keyboard is actually positioned on your desk can also affect it.
Here's how an actual attack unfolds though.
An attacker first needs to record your typing, which they might accomplish through a ton of different
means, including just a phone call to you while you're busy.
Like they can compromise your video conferencing software, for example,
to access the microphone during calls.
They might hide a small recording device in your office.
Sometimes even a smartphone sitting innocently on your desk can serve as a recording device,
especially if it's running something like malicious software.
Now, once they have the recording, they can feed it to their trained machine learning model
and this AI system analyzes each keystroke, comparing it against its training data to determine
which key produced which sound and do this analysis.
The system actually reconstructs everything you typed during the recorded period.
The accuracy rates achieved in things like academic research are genuinely kind of scary.
Recent studies have actually demonstrated that reconstruction accuracy exceeds 95%
when recordings from across the room take place.
Some experiments have successfully captured keystrokes through closed doors or from neighboring
offices. Think about that.
You could mail someone a package, have it express, have the phone running,
have an extra battery pack in there and it's recording everything as it goes through.
It sits in an office, might sit there for a couple hours.
What information are they able to ascertain from that just sitting there?
I mean, obviously, when you open the package, you find a phone, it's going to be weird,
but whatever, they've already gotten the information they need.
Side issue, like professional mechanical keyboards ironically are favored by security conscious
users and often produce louder and more distinctive sounds that make these attacks
even easier. So then let's pivot and we'll go to like computer fan attacks.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I know.
This attack method granted it absolutely sounds like something from a spy movie,
but it's been repeatedly demonstrated in real laboratory conditions.
Your computer's processor generates heat, a proportional to its computer load, right?
And when the processor works harder, it produces more heat, makes sense.
Causing the cooling fan to spin faster.
And you got people like, oh, what if I have water cooling?
Yeah, okay, like, we'll just, let's keep it simple for now, right?
Well, we can get into that at another time.
But like when computational demands decrease, the processor cools down
and the fan slows down accordingly.
Now, the key insight that makes this attack actually possible is that cryptographic
operations like encryption and decryption involve very specific mathematical calculations.
These calculations cause the processor to work in pretty predictable, alternating patterns
between intensive computation and brief pauses.
I hope that makes sense.
I might have just did a word salad, but I think we're good.
Like, think of it like very kind of specific rhythm or a heartbeat,
I guess would be a great one that corresponds to the particular cryptographic operation
actually being performed, right?
So the cooling fan faithfully follows this computational heartbeat, speeding up, slowing down,
kind of in perfect synchronization with the processor's work pattern and workload.
So by recording the fan noise and analyzing how much pitch changes over time,
attackers can in a way kind of like reverse engineer the computational patterns
in workload now with sufficient enough analysis, they can actually extract cryptographic keys
being used for encryption.
So to understand how this works, like imagine trying to crack a safe combination by
listening to someone exercising, right?
When they grunt with more effort, they might be lifting heavier weights,
which could obviously correspond to higher numbers in a combination.
When their breathing is easier, they might be at a lower number.
While this analogy is obviously very simple, it captures kind of the essence of
how fan noise can leak information about the computational effort that's actually required
for different parts of the encryption key.
Researchers have successfully demonstrated extracting a 2048 bit RSA keys and 384 bit
ECDSA keys using this method.
There are studies that say it's not theoretical that they have done it.
So it's not theoretical, but I feel like it's theoretical, if that makes sense.
Anyways, now what they claimed is that this often only required a few minutes of fan noise to
actually get that enough information to actually make that determination, which is insane, right?
Like the attack works best in quiet environments, but it's been proven effective even with moderate
background noise.
We have keyboard noise, fan noise.
What else makes noise?
How about hard drives, right?
So traditional hard drive sounds, right?
They're mechanical hard drives.
They operate kind of like high tech record players with spinning magnetic platters and they read and
write and moves across the surface to access data.
This mechanical operation again creates another rich acoustic environment, which is full of
goodies, full of your information about things like disk activity.
So different files are stored in different physical locations on the actual disk platters.
And when your computer needs to say open a file, the read right head must physically move
to that location creating a specific pattern of mechanical sounds.
The sequence might be click, click, whirl.
I totally, whatever, you get my point, right?
I might look like an idiot, but now at least you understand.
But it might be that particular click, click, whirl for that particular file.
But I don't know, like whirl, click, click, whirl for another file stored in a different location.
Now each file access creates its own unique acoustic signature based on the physical distance
and the distance that the head must actually travel and the sectors it must read.
By recording and analyzing these mechanical sounds, attackers can determine which files
you're accessing, what programs you're running, or what even database queries that you're actually
executing. And the technique is sophisticated enough to distinguish between like opening
different documents, accessing different parts of a database or running different applications.
It's comparable to being able to determine which book someone is actually reading
by carefully listening to the sound of pages turning,
where each book's unique thickness of paper, paper quality, and binding create distinctive
acoustic patterns. Like even solid stage drives, which have no moving parts and were once
considered immune to acoustic attacks, have been proven vulnerable. While SSDs like don't
actually produce the obvious mechanical sounds, they do generate electromagnetic interference
that basically can then couple with nearby components to produce faint acoustic emissions.
Like these sounds are obviously much, much quieter than mechanical drives,
but they still leak information about data across patterns when records are opened or accessed
with sensitive equipment. So
that's insane, but let's move on and we'll look at another one,
which is electronic component wine. And deep inside of every electronic device, right,
there are components like capacitors and inductors and transformers and all of them physically
vibrate when electric current flows through them like we're talking about at the beginning.
These vibrations often occur at frequencies above human hearing or
at volumes below our perception threshold, but they contain valuable information
about the device's operations, different computational tasks cause different patterns
of electrical current flow, which in turn create different vibrational frequencies
in these specific components. Now, the phenomenon is similar to how a guitar
string basically produces different notes, depending on like how it's
slot in where it's held. Your computer's components are essentially playing a
inaudible song that describes exactly what calculations they're performing. And many users
have experienced this phenomenon directly through what they call coil wine in graphics cards.
Gamers often complain about high bitch sounds coming out of their GPUs when the GPU is under
heavy load. But what they're actually hearing is their graphic card, basically inadvertently
broadcasting information about its computational load through acoustic emissions. Researchers
have basically demonstrated that by analyzing these sounds in detail, they can determine what
specific calculations the GPU is actually performing and when and potentially obviously
revealing sensitive information about the rendered content or process data. And the attack
becomes particularly powerful when targeting things like cryptographic operations. Get
front encryption algorithms create distinct, electronical patterns that translate into unique
acoustic signatures, basically. And by recording and analyzing component wine
during encryption operations, attackers can potentially identify which algorithm is
algorithm is being used and even extract key material in some cases. After the first one,
you kind of guess the other ones, because you've heard them before, you've probably heard your
GPU wine, heard your fan go before, keyboard, right? All kind of obvious ones. But like,
what are some advanced attack scenarios, right? So let's get into like smartphone
vulnerabilities. Like your smartphone represents a pretty perfect storm of
acoustic vulnerabilities. Modern phones contain multiple really high quality microphones
that are designed to capture sound from various directions. They're equipped with powerful
processors that are capable of real time audio analysis. And most critically, users routinely
grant microphone permissions to dozens of applications without considering security
implications. I'm sure you will now. But a single malicious application with microphone access,
right? Now all of a sudden transforms your phone into a really dangerous and sophisticated
acoustic spy device. And this basically compromised phone can record not just like
your conversations, whatever, who cares about that. But like all the acoustic
emissions from nearby devices. So place your phone on the same desk where your keyboard is.
Great. While you're working, even better. Like you've inadvertently provided attackers with a
front row acoustic access to every keystroke that you type like who needs a key lover who needs
malware at that point for PCs or whatever. You just leave it near your computer and it'll
capture fan patterns, hard drive sounds potentially, and component wine. And the
thread extends beyond just a like simple recording, right? Like smartphones can produce and detect
ultrasonic frequencies to above the hearing range of the human ear, which is typically in the 18 to
22 kHz range. Attackers have developed sophisticated systems that use these inaudible
sounds for things like tracking and data acceleration. For example, in an advertisement
playing on your smart TV, it might emit an ultrasonic beacon that your phone's microphone
detects linking your TV viewing habits to your mobile identity without your actual knowledge.
Cross device tracking through ultrasonics has been documented in real world advertising,
by the way, it's not just like something I'm making up, but it's been actually documented in
like real world advertising, like in networks. Anyways, retail stores use stuff like
ultrasonic beacons to track customer movements, malicious actors or threat adversaries can
exploit the same technology to create things like covert communication channels between
infected devices and coordinated attacks or exfiltrate data from air gap systems, right?
Like air gap systems are like air gap computers that are physically isolated, right? From all
networks with no internet connection, no Wi-Fi capability and no physical network capabilities,
like organizations use air gapping for their like most exclusive and serious kind of sensitive
information. Believing that physical isolation provides the perfect security. Well, now we know
who, right? Acoustic attacks kind of shadow that illusion of perfect isolation. And this is
why I said you're going to get really paranoid. Researchers have developed multiple methods
for extracting data from air gap systems using acoustic channels. The most elegant involves malware
that actually manipulates cooling fan speeds basically to encode data by speeding up and slowing
down the fan in specific patterns. And the malware can transmit binary data through acoustic signals.
It's essentially technological Morse code, I guess you'd say, right? Transmitted through
fan noise. And the data rates, like obviously, like watching YouTube with this stuff, right? But
like the data rates are going to be modest, but they're going to be sufficient enough for stealing
encryption keys, passwords, small documents, like researchers have actually achieved
transmission rates using fan noise alone. An attacker basically needs only to place
a smartphone or small recording device within the acoustic range of the target system.
The recording device can be hidden in the same room, placed in an adjacent office or in a back edge
in that room, or like even operated from outside in some cases, right? If windows allow sound
transmission, basically. And other acoustic exfiltration methods from air gap systems
include manipulating things like hard drive patterns, kind of like how we were talking
about before to create specific sound sequences using the computer's built-in speaker to
generate ultrasonic signals or even modulating the sounds of capacitor, wine to do things like
carry data. Each method offers different tradeoffs between data rate transmission distance and
detectability, like understanding the effective range of acoustic attacks, obviously is going to
help in developing appropriate defenses for them. Most keyboard acoustic tax work reliably
within 10 to 20 feet of the target device under difficult conditions and typical is kind of a
dangerous assumption I like to go with, but insecurity planning researchers have successfully
demonstrated keyboard sounds reconstructed from recordings made in adjacent rooms through things
like ventilation systems and even from outside the building through things like windows. In one
experiment that's kind of notable, researchers actually reconstructed typed text from a recording
made with a smartphone placed in a bag on the floor of a conference room that was over 15 feet
from the target. Like high quality directional microphones can extend that effectiveness even
further, right? Potentially capturing usable keyboard sounds from across large open offices
environmental factors significantly impact acoustic attack effectiveness as well. Background
noise basically provides some like natural protection as it makes isolating target sounds
a bit more challenging like a busy coffee shop offers more acoustic cover than say a
quiet house, right? Working in a city or trying to eavesdrop on someone working in a
city or in a busy office would be more challenging than someone being in a quiet
countryside house working remote from home with no music playing. So however, like the
modern signal processing techniques can filter out steady background noise and machine
learning models can be trained to work in noisy environments. So you're kind of screwed no matter
what but like building construction also affects sound propagation in pretty complex ways like
glass windows obviously act as kind of acoustic membranes that vibrate with sound waves potentially
allowing things like laser microphones to read indoor sounds from hundreds of feet away.
I always thought the whole laser sound thing when I was a kid I was reading like popular
science problem mechanics I always thought that was like a myth I always thought it was
like a scam nope. So thin walls obviously most of us at one point I have been in the
chief apartment and like thin walls common in modern instruction transmit sound like
real easily while thick concrete provides much better isolation obviously hard surfaces
reflect sound potentially carrying acoustic information around corners if you've ever
constantly things like furnishings right like these pads behind me also absorb it right so
what are some of the actual tools that are needed right well there's a growing number of
tools that acoustic attack tools that basically represent a growing security concern right
professional audio equipment that once cost thousands of dollars is now available for a
couple hundred and the specific equipment needed varies by attack type but basic acoustic attack
kit is pretty affordable like high quality usb microphones that are designed for podcasting
can capture their suitable sounds needed for things like obviously keyboard acoustic analysis but
even a crappy cell phone would do that models caught a sting under two hundred dollars offer
frequency responses and sensitivity specifications basically that would have required professional
studio equipment just a decade ago parabolic microphones for long range recordings are available
online for like under 500 bucks you can find them through solid services for like less than 50 bucks
software defined radio devices also enable attacks to basically detect electromagnetic
emissions that basically couple into acoustic signals popular sdr platforms cost between 20 and
like 300 bucks depending on the frequency range and the sensitivity like requirements that you
actually have so these devices can detect electromagnetic interference from electronic
components that manifest as acoustic emissions the analysis software required for acoustic attacks
is you know predominantly open source and you know freely available machine learning frameworks
like tensor flow and pytorch provide the tools that you actually need to build keyboard acoustic
recognition systems audio processing libraries handle signal filtering and frequency analysis
like are we just screwed like is there is there nothing that we can do there are some defense
strategies that are physical defense strategies that operate as countermeasures that are effective
against acoustic attacks and it means with understanding that sound is a physical phenomenon
that follows a predictable rule sound absorbing material can dramatically reduce acoustic leakage
from sensitive areas professional acoustic panels designed for recording studios work well but like
even simple solutions like heavy curtains or carpeting or upholstered furniture also help
absorb sound energy these panels that you see behind me were really cheap they're like a dollar each
or maybe even 50 cents each i think i'm on amazon white noise generators are always fun they create
basically acoustic masking that makes it much much harder to isolate device sounds from background
noise like i saw an interview one time where is this nsa agent he's talking about how when you
walk to the hallway at the nsa they have this white noise and then they talk about brown
noise and pink noise it gets really nuts but um but it played constantly now the key is using
things like pink or brown noise rather than pure white noise as these lower frequency weighted
sounds better mask the typical frequency ranges of device emissions position these generators
strategically between potential recording locations and stuff like sensitive devices
some organizations install permanent sound masking systems like the nsa and the hallways
of the speakers that provide consistent acoustic cover throughout sensitive areas physical distance
remains one of the most effective distances even doubling the distance reduces sound intensity
by like six decibels arranging offices so that sensitive systems are far from publicly
accessible areas exterior windows and stuff like shared walls provides real meaningful protection
while processing a highly sensitive information you should consider something like using interior
rooms without windows or exterior walls have me thick walls like traditional physical security
measures gain a new importance in the context of these kind of acoustic attacks that we're
recording devices obviously restricted access to things like near sensitive systems and visitor
management all help prevent attackers from doing things like positioning recording equipment
effectively packages should be kept in a isolated area for example so someone sends a phone right
like we're the attack vector we're doing all before technical solutions that are kind of
air based also exist as defenses against acoustic attacks but those are also evolving rapidly just
like the attack vectors right modern operating systems can implement fan speed randomization
that actually disrupts the pattern attacks that attackers rely on for cryptographic key extraction
some security software as random computational delays during sensitive operations to prevent
timing based acoustic analysis and hardware manufacturers are beginning to address things
like acoustic security in their designs newer keyboard designs use dampening materials to more
uniform key mechanisms to reduce acoustic variation between the keys some high security systems
use keyboards that are filled with foam or use gel to actually muffle the keystrokes
and mechanical keyboards with o-ring dampeners can reduce acoustic emissions while also maintaining
tactile feedback which you kind of need if that's what you've been doing your whole life like
component level shielding also does stuff like reduces the actual electromagnetic emissions
that can couple into acoustic signals so better power supply designs with improved filtering
also reduce things like coil wire some security systems use specifically designed cases with
acoustic dampening materials that muffle all internal sounds these cases often include sealed
designs that also provide things like electromagnetic shielding now detection systems can do things
like alert security teams to potential acoustic surveillance ultrasonic detectors can identify
covert communication attempts above human hearing range acoustic anomaly detection systems use
machine learning to identify unusual sound patterns that might indicate recording devices or
acoustic data acceleration some advanced systems can even detect the presence of my favorite because
it's super nerdy laser microphones by identifying the infrared beams that they actually use
so this brings us to an interesting question of like who actually uses these attacks right like
who is it Sam that's going to be using laser microphones against me who is it Sam that's
going to be listening to my fan speeds and hard drive speeds and well actually a lot of people
right threat actors for one nation state intelligence agencies for another um have most
likely employed acoustic attack techniques for decades like long before the public actually
knew about them now it's only thanks to things like research that's brought these methods to
light like these agencies have absolutely developed resources for custom recording equipment and
the expertise to analyze complex acoustic signals and the operational capability to position these
recording devices near things like high value targets that they have in mind that they want
to spy on now for intelligence agencies acoustic attacks offer the kind of perfect combination
of passive collection difficult to actually prove that they're the ones who sent it and
the ability to bypass one strong encryption a corporate espionage which is by the way a billion
dollar industry also is another fairly significant threat vector for things like acoustic attacks
industrial spies can use acoustic techniques to steal train secrets during business meetings
capture passwords during video conferences or monitor competitor activities like the
passive nature of acoustic recording makes it ideal for things like long-term intelligence
gathering in corporate environments a single compromised smartphone in a board room could
provide months of valuable intelligence or millions or possibly even billions of dollars
in information like sophisticated criminal organizations are beginning to adapt acoustic
attack techniques as traditional digital attacks become more and more difficult so
as organizations improve their network security by doing things like implementing strong encryption
and training employees to recognize phishing attempts and criminals seek alternate attack
vectors acoustic attacks provide a way to bypass many traditional security measures
potentially capturing passwords and sensitive data despite strong digital defenses that are
in place right and so like security researchers kind of continue to advance in this field
through things like reasonable disclosure which is awesome because it allows me to do things
like give talk to you about this but now academic institutions in corporate research labs regularly
publish papers that detail these kind of novell acoustic vulnerabilities and attack
techniques which again like no doubt like they definitely sound like they come from a spy movie
but they don't this research aims basically to improve security by identifying vulnerabilities
that also provides a roadmap for malicious actors and threat actors to develop their own acoustic
contact capabilities unfortunately but that's just the world we're in and target selection
high value individuals make prime targets for acoustic surveillance due to the focused nature
of these attacks like CEOs typing passwords or discussing confidential strategies or
government officials for example handling classified information and celebrities
providing private communications all kind of represent really valuable targets where the
effort of acoustic surveillance actually bays off the end like the targeted nature
of acoustic attacks makes them more suitable for focused operations rather than stuff like
mass deployment right government facilities and corporate headquarters often implement
sophisticated digital security but overlook stuff for things like acoustic attacks many secure
facilities were designed and built before acoustic attacks were well understood leaving them vulnerable
to these techniques sensitive areas like situations rooms and executive offices and
secure communication facilities require special attention to specifically do things like
acoustic security obviously there are a ton of places that have accounted for this i'm not
they haven't i'm saying that in general a lot of places have it like critical infrastructure
especially faces unique challenges from stuff like acoustic attacks because the industrial control
systems often rely on stuff like older equipment that provides distinct acoustic signatures power
generation facilities for example water treatment plants manufacturing systems and transportation
are all great examples of things that rely on mechanical systems to create and run that create
information rich acoustic environments and these sounds might reveal operational schedules
equipment status or processing parameters that could be valuable for planning physical or
cyber attacks so i mean all this brings us to like the future of acoustic security
like where are we going to be in 20 years well i would point out that some of the emerging
threats like artificial intelligence really continues to kind of revolutionize the threat
landscape acoustic attack capabilities with each passing year evolve like deep learning models
become increasingly sophisticated at isolating signals from noise recognizing subtle patterns
and acoustic data and reconstructing information from very minimal input in current research explores
using things like generative ai in order to enhance poor quality recordings potentially making
previously unusable acoustic data valuable for attacks now and miniaturization of recording
devices proceeds rapidly with with mems microphones becoming smaller and more sensitive and more
power efficient researchers have developed recording devices smaller than a grain of rice
that can operate for weeks on tiny tiny batteries like these devices can be hidden almost anywhere
making physical detection increasingly difficult to say the least if not impossible smart dust
concepts propose microscopic recording devices that could be dispersed like powder creating a
pervasive acoustic surveillance network and new attack vectors emerge regularly as research
is explored previously totally unconsidered acoustic channels recently discoveries including
extracting data from the sound of 3d printers to reconstruct printed objects using monitor
brightness variations to create acoustic signals through coil wine and determining gps coordinates
from acoustic signatures of power grid interference basically like each new discovery expands the
attack surface that security professionals have to know about and have to defend so defense
evolution is another topic that's worth talking about the security industry basically responds
to acoustic threats with increasingly sophisticated countermeasures acoustic security assessments
are becoming standard practice high security facilities for example using the same tools
and techniques as attackers to identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited
security standards are beginning to include things like acoustic considerations requiring
organizations to address these threats in their security planning manufacturing tends to show
increased awareness of things like acoustic security to future devices may also include
built-in acoustic countermeasures such as active noise cancellation specifically designed to mask
information bearing sounds right randomized acoustic signatures that change with each device
to prevent training effective recognition models and acoustic isolation built into component design
from the ground up so then we get to education and awareness representation now as more security
professionals understand acoustic threats they can better defend against them training programs
increasingly include things like acoustic security modules teaching it staff to recognize
things like vulnerable configurations and implement appropriate countermeasures
user awareness helps to as employees who understand that their devices leak acoustic
information are more likely to follow security procedures designed to mitigate those specific
kind of risks some practical takeaways that i would say i found useful where like your devices
are constantly generating acoustic emissions that contain information about their operations
and your data every keystroke you type every kind of calculation that your processor performs every
file your hard drive accesses produces these like unique sounds that could potentially be
captured and analyzed by an attacker and like our kind of modern world of ubiquitous microphones
and powerful analysis tools these acoustic emissions represent a real present
threat and risk like the traditional kind of separation between physical security and
digital security kind of no longer exists in any meaningful way with this attack vector the
acoustic environment of your workspace kind of directly impacts your information security
right like background noise levels like wall construction window placement and like the proximity
of potential recording devices all affect your vulnerability to acoustic attacks in general
so security planning has to consider those physical factors right alongside traditional
digital concerns like simple precautions can significantly reduce your acoustic attack surface
without necessarily requiring crazy expensive modifications these things were we're an example
of that like using white noise generators or pink noise generators when handling sensitive
information which are really cheap and get those on Amazon too or just get white noise on your
phone and play it either too but it allows you to do things like if you're gonna handle
sensitive data provide it like will provide some acoustic masking that makes attacks
more difficult if you think that your threat model requires it right and being aware of your
environment during important calls when typing passwords definitely helps your kind of identified
potential recording threats that may exist positioning sensitive systems away from windows
and public areas obviously reduces opportunity for acoustic surveillance and visual surveillance
by the way understanding that air gap systems are not perfectly isolated helps you implement
appropriate additions in terms of protections knowledge absolutely remains your most powerful
defense which why i'm doing this crazy long video no basically data exists not just in
digital form but also in physical phenomenon like our devices create and make sounds that
create signatures and as our world fills with more and more powerful devices and more sensitive
microphones the acoustic environment like those threats are not going away it becomes an increasingly
rich source of potential information gathering and protecting against these attacks requires
expanding our security thinking like beyond firewalls and passwords but to include the
physical properties of like sound itself like the devices around us are always talking and in
the world of acoustic security someone is always listening thank you for watching to the end
if you like this video you found out some use out of it please like and subscribe and i will
see you in the next video