Hijacked headphones could be listening to your private moments RIGHT NOW
Hackers could use the speakers in your headphones to slyly record your secret conversations
HACKERS could hijack your headphones to slyly record your secret conversations, researchers have warned.
By developing a prototype code that utilises a unique form of malware, Israeli security researchers from Ben Gurion University demonstrated how software could convert headphones into microphones to eavesdrop on the user.
The Ben Gurion researchers were able to make this a possibility due to a vulnerability in RealTek audio codec chips - the stuff that makes your computer software compatible with the audio hardware - to retask the computer’s output channel as an input channel, allowing the malware to record audio even when the headphones don’t even have a microphone channel on their plug, or are connected to an output-only audio jack.
As the RealTek chips are very common in most modern desktops and laptops, the researchers claim their prototyped attack will work on practically any computer, be it Windows or MacOS.
“This is the real vulnerability,” says Guri. “It’s what makes almost every computer today vulnerable to this type of attack.”
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368