Teapot backdoor probed by German telescope boffins Just when you (may have) thought it was safe to log back onto your computer and do something private, German security boffins have come up with a new vulnerability. Being a security-aware type of person - and perhaps preferring a view - your monitor doubtless faces away from the window, meaning that evilly-inclined persons …
Why the true nerd works in a darkened cellar, with loud music to cover the distinctive notes of the keyboard.
Remember, if you're in the only circle of light in a room, you've got grues for guards!
Paris, because she too has mastered the use of curtains, though not how to avoid cameras.
These days, may office buildings have half-silvered windows just to keep the heat down - then again, getting within 30m of your average office with a rather large telescope is not going to be easy, particularly if you want to see in one of the upper storeys!
Nice report, Reg, but what would I give to make a living by doing such obvious research! Notice that it doesn't mention the ability to read printed documents via a reflection, or doing anything seriously clever like reading the EM fields from a distance...
Too right, I'm sure most people will notice a crew maneuvering a telescope and training it at them 10m - 30m away, especially seeing as it would be happening in their normal field of view. 30 metres is the main limiting factor here clearly.
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But what next though? A hi-res firewire digital camera telescope, with reflection tracking software for auto-surveillance? You can even get it to filter out the general surfing/document writing, and capture all the really juicy tidbits.
Just remember to put it behind that special glass the cops use for identity parades, and keep the lights off, eh?
But why spend all that time and effort on seriously complicated things, when a far simpler and more reliable solution can be easily shown to do the job just fine?
There's no mention of how large the telescopes should be, by the way. Only their price, and high quality optics can be extremely expensive regardless of their size. Also consider that even moderately large telescopes can still be concealed in vans and cars and so on without any particular difficulty.
Indeed, hence TEMPEST monitors, Farady cages, and the like. Allegedly there's enough RF emissions from the scan coils and electron beam of a classical CRT to allow it to be read, and a picture reconstructed, by suitably equipped operatives tens of meters away.
How does all that TEMPEST stuff work in the era of LCD monitors with minimal emissions, and plasma TVs with huge (but incoherent?) emissions?
But eventually the returns for these kind of methods start to drop, I have to trust my ISP hasn't altered my download of firefox to change the security certificates or combine that with man in the middle attack.
Any keyboard could have a keylogger installed inside it, not just on the cable, my router might have been swapped and flashed with a custom firmware. When somebody can't get a password to work they just reset the device and blame themselves for forgetting it so most items can be swapped out.
Or if it doesn't matter if somebody knows they are being watched, break in and club them over the head until they give you the information.
next up, California to ban telescopes because welfare recipients are afraid their details will be visually hacked while being entered into Government databases...
Wasn't Galileo ordered by the Authorities of the Day to keep his telescope below a certain inclination to keep him from observing the sky? Soon we'll see laws against having telescopes decline *below* a certain range. CA approved telescopes will have mandatory lockouts and bang-stops to keep telescopes from being used in ways that could offend people. Collapsible telescopes will be banned outright, scopes that are too large will be allowed only by licensed Thought Enforcement Personnel (good leftists academicians) and scopes too small will be considered "useless" and "only used by criminals who want to conceal a hacking device" and will be banned under a new Democrat-supported "Assault Optics Ban".
"When telescopes are outlawed, only outlaws will have telescopes!" I'm starting a preemptive strike-an organization called the National Optical Association. Since Heston is no longer with us, we'll offer the leadership to Ahnold-he'll be needing a job soon...and if you saw Heston in "Soylent Green" you'll notice that as younger men they had more than a passing semblence in jawline, acting style, and mannerisms....
hmm.. spending $2700 to rip credit card details to buy a $2000 big tv? Anyone else wonder at the improbable investment required and whether just not spending the money on an expensive telescope might be a much safer way of buying what you want off the internet?
Ok, industrial espionage then? I've found that telescopes would normally attract attention, especially when planted only 30 ft away from your victim. Sure the 90 ft away crowd might be able to peer in through tinted windows, but telescopes are particularly funny about stuff like that.
Anyway I reckon that most info hijackers usually employ the following devious techniques to hack into someone's account, employing Q-style cunning and intellect.
1 - Phone up and ask for the user's username and password.
2 - Walk in and copy the username and password from the postit stuck on the monitor.
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