Electromagnetic Emanations Leak Your Wired Keyboard Strokes

Posted 10/21/2008 at 1:29pm | by Alex Castle

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Image Credit: Martin Vuagnoux

And now, a whole new way for your privacy to be invaded. Computer scientists at the EPFL in Switzerland have developed a way to eavesdrop on what you type by detecting the electromagnetic radiation emitted with every keystroke, Engadget reports.

The group developed four techniques for listening in on keystrokes, and tested them on 11 keyboards, produced from 2001 to 2008 and including USB, PS/2 and laptop keyboards. Every one of the devices was vulnerable to at least one of the methods. Some of the techniques are effective from as far away as 65 feet, and through walls.

Martin Vuagnoux, one of the scientists responsible, has posted two videos demonstrating the vulnerability on Vimeo. The first of the two videos shows a meter-long wire being used as an antenna to detect the emissions of a keyboard several feet away. A program successfully decodes the message “trust no one” from these emissions. The second video shows an antenna that looks a bit like a pair of gigantic egg beaters eavesdropping on a keyboard from one room over.

The technique is pretty cool to see in motion (if a bit scary) so check out those videos and hit the jump to give us your thoughts.