New spy threat revealedSpooks can hear your keyboardBy Nick Farrell: Thursday 15 September 2005, 07:53NEVER MIND installing encryption and other security tools, apparently it is a doddle to tell what you are typing just by listening.Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, say they have developed a system of finding out which keys are being hit more than 96 per cent of the time just by recording a person typing.Li Zhuang, Feng Zhou, and JD Tygar have released a paper which can be found here, which could make the most paranoid person cross eyed with fear.All a spook, or credit card thief, has to do is record the sound made when the typist hits the keys. These can then be decoded into a cluster of letters that appear together, analyse them in accordance to grammar rules and Bob’s your Uncle.They have developed software to do this that only needs about 10 minutes to half an hour of audio from each keyboard before it can decode the lot.It means that in addition to your tin foil hat, you will have to sing loudly and constantly as you type, if you don’t want the spooks to know what you are doing. Companies will also have to play music in the office loud enough to drown out the sound of one finger tapping.
