Consider a case where we are talking about something in the comfort of our home or office and our computer mouse which we considered totally unharmful is listening to our private conversations!
Discovery Of “Mic-E-Mouse” Vulnerability
Yes! You read right, as per a recent study which revealed a shocking vulnerability – even standard computer mice can be exploited to secretly record audio.
As per this latest discovery by researchers at the University of California, USA which they named as “Mic-E-Mouse”, explained that the highly sensitive sensors used in a standard mouse can detect even the slightest vibrations—including sound waves transmitted through a desk or surface.
Researchers’ claims leave experts stunned as these sensors can then convert those minute room vibrations into recognisable sound, allowing nearby conversations to be overheard.
Moving ahead, its accuracy depends on the frequency of the voice as noted by the researchers.
So far, the vibrations captured by a mouse can be up to 61 percent accurate, this simply means that the audio can be translated into words using AI.
This revelation makes the mouse an easy target for hackers, especially since these sensors are never checked in typical security scans, which usually focus only on peripherals with dedicated microphones and cameras.
Is This Dangerous For Us?
It appears that the data captured by the mouse was 61 percent accurate, which is sufficient for translation into clear words using AI systems, said the researchers.
Moving ahead, they learned that it is quite easy to accurately record the sound of numbers using a mouse.
But, it is more difficult while recording full words, so the accuracy significantly improves when using AI.
Such attacks pose a significant danger, the study claims that the hackers could gain access to sensitive personal information, potentially extracting details such as banking credentials and exposing users to major financial fraud.
If you are thinking to prevent this “Mic-E-Mouse” attacks then you need to fully shut down your computer to disconnect the mouse peripheral in order to completely prevent this type of eavesdropping,
In case you leave your computer in sleep or hibernate mode then the mouse peripheral may remain connected to the CPU and could still be used to access and transmit sound.
