Beware! Hackers can now take control of your phone using radio waves
Mumbai: A new research conducted by two researchers at French security organisation ANSSI has revealed that hackers can remotely and discreetly transmit radio commands to control any Andriod or Apple smartphone that has Google Now or Siri enabled, along with a pair of microphone-enabled headphones connected to the device.
A hacker can use radiowaves to command Siri or Google Now to carry out malicious activities
The research shows that a hacker can transmit signals discreetly from just 16 feet away (5 metres). Moreover, the ingenious research demonstrates how hackers can use to gain access to a nearby user’s s personal assistant-enabled smartphones without even uttering a single word.
The Procedure
The process involved requires microphone-enabled headphones and is quite complex to execute, however, the two researchers claim that hackers may soon start using this process to make calls and send texts, eavesdrop and even redirect a phones browser to a malware site every time. Hackers will also be able to send spam messages, ads and other malicious content vai emails and on various social media sites
The hack uses the connected headphone’s cord as an antenna, using its wire to convert secret electromagnetic waves into electrical signals. The phone’s operating system identifies these signals to be audio coming from the user’s microphone. A hacker could then use these signals to command Siri or Google Now to carry out myriad functions by sending silent voice commands.
“The possibility of inducing parasitic signals on the audio front-end of voice-command-capable devices could raise critical security impacts”, the two researchers, José Lopes Esteves and Chaouki Kasmi, wrote in a paper published by IEEE.
According to The wired, an experiment carried out by the two French researchers show that the process needs a simple collection of equipment. A laptop running the open-source software GNU Radio, a USRP software-defined radio, an amplifier, and an antenna are enough to carry out the hack. The researchers also claim that a bigger set-up would allow a hacker to extend the hacking range beyond 16 feet.
Users can stay relaxed
Although the process is extremely efficient for hacking smartphones, it has some serious limitations and is a big reason why smartphone users can stay relaxed. The hack will only be possible on phones that have microphone-enabled headphones connected. In addition, a number of android devices do not even have Google Now enabled from the lockscreen and some users have it set only respond to commands after complete user voice recognition.
Even though Apple’s iPhone’s personal voice assistant Siri is enabled from the lockscreen by default, but the new iPhone 6s also verifies the owner’s voice. In fact, an attentive user can easily spot the incoming mysterious voice commands and cancel them instantly.
