Researchers from several universities have shown that it is technically possible to spy on the data displayed on your screen using the microphone of your computer. We explain to you.
How To Spy On A Screen Using A Microphone?
Do you think you are perfectly safe when it comes to spying? Controlling the settings of your computer, especially with regard to sharing your screen and hacking your webcam, has no secret for you? A new threat is happening. Several teams of researchers have indeed demonstrated that it was possible to know what is displayed on your screen using … a microphone!
A microphone to spy on a computer screen
You are not dreaming, it is actually possible to use the microphone of your computer to restore the data displayed on your screen. In this regard, you probably know that screens are electrical devices that work through the emission of electromagnetic waves. Have you ever paid attention to these horizontal stripes that were sometimes displayed when you switched on your screen?
If these electromagnetic emissions were more visible on old computers, they are still used today. Even worse, they have a sound! Indeed, each pixel of your screen corresponds to a certain wave, and, beyond triggering a display, emits a certain sound. On old models, again, it was even possible to hear them by sticking his ear to the screen.
Reconstitute your data, it is possible
The scientists have therefore studied the issue and have reached under certain specific conditions, reconstitute the items displayed on the screen they spied through sounds that could save the PC microphone. It would be technically possible to spy on your conversation when you make a videoconference, or to extract the data from a confidential email when you are at work.
A novelty so, but not a surprise, because it was already demonstrated by way of example that the heat of the fingers could betray the password of the user of a terminal.
Reconstruction to improve
Do not panic though. It is currently not possible to reconstruct the entire screen with a simple hacking of your microphone. Restoring the data displayed on your computer requires the support of an artificial intelligence based on several requests.
During the most convincing experiments, the researchers were able to guess which website was displayed on the screen, or to get closer to a word written on a word processor.
Mistrust is needed
Even if these practices are not yet fully developed, however, it will be necessary to remain vigilant thereafter, because the piracy of data displayed on your screen could become a threat to take very seriously for the rest of the 21st century.
At a time when the protection of personal data and privacy is daily on the front of the scene, the arrival of a new source of espionage may be likely to call into question the security models developed by big companies in data protection.
