Physical prongs on input/out circuits?

Reuters.com > U.S. researchers show computers can be hijacked to send data as sound waves

What physical prongs on input/output circuits?

 

That's too secret to tell/show us Doc. Neil.

 

by turning GPIO or UART pins on and off, emanates a signal picked up on a AM radio

https://github.com/funtenna/REF_DESIGN

Cui has posted video showing transmitted data from a Pantum laser printer:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/135270882

"wires and components of the device can be turned into a radio transmitter "

"he made a laser printer infected by the malware "sing" for the reporter. "

"ultrasounds that can’t be heard, and radio signals, can be modulated to transmit data out of the printer, and out of the building, to a nearby receiver "

"...we demonstrate implementations of Funtenna as small software implants within several ubiquitous embedded devices, such as VoIP phones and printers, and in common computer peripherals, such as hard disks, console ports, network interface cards... "

"you can send software into machine, transmit data out, and if you want to erase your presence you just delete the software "

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-to-turn-a-cheap-printer-into-a-stealthy-bugging-device

 

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Thanks antik. Must have been their revised definition of "prong" that had me confused.

Merriam-Webster.com: prong

 

You are welcome.

This kind of attack is the stuff of bad dreams, bringing new meaning to the phrase "ghost in the machine ". The embedded link to badBIOS at the end of the Motherboard piece is a treasure. Maybe the reporter was subconsciously thinking "We're all forked! "

Very applicable to industrial espionage, and attacking the power grid. In the opening days of the next war, there could be a new flavor of "shock and awe," when we feel the sharp end of the prong.

Sorry. Can't help myself.

 

Lol ;-)

 

This is nothing new! In the early 70s, I was trained on countermeasures for such emanations as a communications equipment technician in the USAF.

See TechTarget: TEMPEST and Wikipedia: TEMPEST.

 

Sean Gallagher at ars technica makes the TEMPEST connection in his Cui funtenna article today.

(Quote) "Building on a long history of research into TEMPEST emanations... "

 

You can even use a laser beam focused on a window and hear what is going on in the room by interpreting the vibrations in the window glass.

Receivers used in secure communications systems had to have special shielding because the IF used in the receivers actually transmitted the "intelligence" (data) during the heterodyne process. Yes, the badguy had to be fairly close, but with sophisticated high-gain directional antennas, they could still be a couple 100 yards away.

Electric typewriters even emitted signals that could be detected and reveal what was being typed.