Computer Data Theft Via Heat?

We do know that there is this thing known as data theft via Wi-Fi, but for data theft to happen to a computer through heat? That sounds improbable and downright crazy at first thought, but there is more science than witch doctor magic to it. Air-gapped systems, long been the ideal solution in high security situations that claim to make siphoning data from them difficult, might be compromised easily in the future – as security researchers at Ben Gurion University in Israel have discovered a method to retrieve data from an air-gapped computer through the use of heat emissions as well as a computer’s built-in thermal sensors.

Basically, this methodology would enable attackers to siphon passwords or security keys from a protected system, before transmitting the data to an internet-connected system which remains in close proximity that is obviously controlled by the attackers. Apart from that, the internet-connected system can be used to send malicious commands to the air-gapped system with the similar technique, now how about that?

Of course, both systems will need to compromised with malware before that can work, and the attack will cater for a mere 8 bits of data to be transmitted over an hour in a readable manner, which is alright for a password or secret key, but definitely not being able to handle copious amounts of data.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Computers
Tags: Science