We are generally having a notion that hacking is connected to accessing the risky parts of the web or downloading some malicious code in your computer which give hackers access to your computer. This is true. We definitely need to be cautious about what sites we are accessing or what we are downloading but simply by doing that we cannot avoid being hacked.
According to a recently published article, you also need to be equally careful while using wireless mouse or keyboard as they could be a gateway for the hackers.
Bastille, a security firm, carried out extensive researches about this and they came to a conclusion that “mousejacking” is real. According to them, the hackers would just need a $10 to $15 antenna and few lines of code to accomplish that.
Chris Rouland, CEO of Bastille, mentioned: “With about fifteen lines of code, you can take over a computer more than a hundred yards away.”
Rouland and fellow researcher Marc Newlin connected a $12 Geeetech Crazyradio USB dongle to a laptop running the exploit code and accessing the victim’s device was a cakewalk.
The above claim was evaluated by independent hacker Samy Kamkar. who commented:
“It’s a bit of a wakeup call when it comes to the implementations of these protocols that are entirely proprietary and that no one has looked at before. Now someone has finally taken a look and found that virtually all of them are vulnerable. That’s pretty scary. If you can go wired, go wired.”
Popular Mechanics published a related article and assured:
“Fortunately, there are limitations to what a hacker could do. Not only does the hacker have to be within at least a few hundred yards of the target, but they also might not be able to do anything with their illicit access.”
Wired further added:
“Injecting keystrokes on a target computer, of course, isn’t in itself a full compromise of the machine. The hacker would only have the same privileges as the person using the computer and wouldn’t necessarily be able to type his or her passwords. Rouland argues that the attack could quickly be used to download malware and take full remote control of a PC. But the computer would have to already be unlocked, a caveat that would likely require the attacker to be able to see his or her target’s screen.”
Whatever way you look at it it’s not a comfortable situation. With the advancement of technology, this method of hacking will only become more popular and easier.
You may have to take a call about using wireless products, very soon!
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Author: Technology and Beyond
