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Hacking by Sound

Did you know?  Researchers at the University of Michigan* have discovered a new way of hacking, one that you may have never even widely guessed – and how it was done.  What’s that?  Using acoustics, they discovered the tiny device, called a MEMS accelerometer and other motion detectors, can be fooled by sound waves.  These are found in all smartphones, all smart watches, and other technologies.  For example; this little device is used in step counters found everywhere, including the Fitbit.   These apps measure when you take a step by the device response to a physical step. You take a step, and this causes a force felt by the accelerometer, and this is translated into a step.

Generally, the new technique is achieved by “acoustic interference.  So, using sound, you can take thousands of (measured) steps without moving a muscle.  Moreover, you can disable and control devices using sound.  Stupid, you say, if not just plain cheating.  However, sound can affect this same device used in remote controlled cars, and this sounds (no pun) a little more serious.

The researchers tell us their goal is not actual malicious hacking but defense against, and they’ve devised software to do so. Hopefully, it will be adopted to currently deployed smart and very vulnerable systems.

Assuming this done, you still have this smart device.  Against whatever other invasions are possible, how secure can one feel?  As we know from life, most smart things, like us, have vulnerabilities, many undiscovered until too late. 

Hacking can come from (a) email (old but stupidly ignored), (b) physical using machine learning), and the (c) cloud (anything there is vulnerable to machine learning). 
  

*http://fortune.com/2017/03/14/hack-fitbit-smart-phones-using-sound/
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