Specialists from the University of Cambridge talked about an unusual hacking technique that allows you to calculate the password from a smartphone with high accuracy. This is an “acoustic attack”, the essence of which is to eavesdrop on and record the sound of a finger touching the touch screen.
Previously, experts managed to crack gadgets protected by the so-called graphic pattern in a similar way. Initially, a spyware program was installed on the gadget with access to the speakers and a microphone, which turned the smartphone into an echo sounder. When the user entered the password, the application recorded sound waves that occur when you touch the screen and are not perceived by the human ear. After that, machine algorithms were connected to the case, determining which microphone was the first to record the sound and, based on this, guessing which part of the screen the user touched. During the test, the system was able to guess the four-digit code in 75% of cases. And when guessing long passwords, consisting of 10-12 characters, the accuracy of the system decreased to 30%.
