Scientist-developed malware prototype covertly jumps air gaps using inaudible so

[Ned Hamford]

http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/12/scientist-developed-malware-covertly-jumps-air-gaps-using-inaudible-sound/
 

In a lab, with years of work and specialists, months of calibration, and an error ratio (signal/noise) that makes the results indistinguishable from random.  The prototype boasts covert communication of UP TO 20/bytes per second... ignoring of course all those random zeros and ones immediately before and after and how many cycles before the series of zeros and ones you were looking for were there... making it likely the sequences you assert to have transmitted was also just random. 

But as its from something with citations and over technical jargon, never-mind that rational evaluation.   

This is the same guy from the Bad Bios tin hattery. 

[Phyphor]

*eye twitch, twitch.*

*tic*

[Azrael256]

It doesn't jump air gaps, it communicates using the speaker and mic.  You may have heard of it before.  It's usually called a modem.  The group that came up with it released a statement to try to combat the perception that it spreads sonically.

[cordex]

It doesn't jump air gaps, it communicates using the speaker and mic.  You may have heard of it before.  It's usually called a modem.  The group that came up with it released a statement to try to combat the perception that it spreads sonically.

This. Not that it isn't cool that it can do so using an inaudible register, but it doesn't infect that way - it requires an existing receiver program.

[geronimotwo]

not teotwawki?

[Sergeant Bob]

not teotwawki?

It's safe (relatively) to leave the bunker!

[Ned Hamford]

It doesn't jump air gaps, it communicates using the speaker and mic.  You may have heard of it before.  It's usually called a modem. 

Rather than 'jump air gaps' I just think 'so.... wireless.'

[geronimotwo]

Rather than 'jump air gaps' I just think 'so.... wireless.'

now if someone came up with a virus that used wifi to hop networks...............

[zahc]

http://www.techspot.com/news/41643-intels-sandy-bridge-processors-have-a-remote-kill-switch.html

The processor can be disabled even if the computer has no Internet connection or isn't even turned on, over a 3G network. With Intel anti-theft technology built into Sandy Bridge, David Allen, director of distribution sales at Intel North America, told ITBusiness that users have the option to set up their processor so that if their computer is lost or stolen, it can be shut down remotely.

[Ned Hamford]

I think the bricked without the wireless being on and the whole device turned off is like the notion of my cell phone being turned off. There really needs to be some air quotes. 

[Blakenzy]

Teh malware... it's gone airborne?!?!...