I'm what most would call a night owl so I would have been up anyway. I
read something a few years ago that said a man in an apartment who had a
wireless mouse noticed the mouse pointer moving around the screen by
itself. Turned out his neighbor also had a wireless mouse. I also read
back in the 80s that somebody had figured out how to take the RF noise
given off by a crt and use it to generate an image of what was being
displayed on the monitor. For me, plain old fashioned wired keyboards
and mice work, so why bother with wireless ones. I've talked to people
who have had wireless mice and keyboard and had trouble with the
batteries giving out at a bad time.
On 11/08/2013 07:43 AM, George Toft wrote:
Hi Derrick,
Topic keeping you up at night? J/K
The answer, of course, is "it depends." The older the keyboard, the
weaker (or not at all) the encryption. Microsoft now has AES
encryption available
(http://news.techworld.com/security/3284218/new-microsoft-wireless-keyboard-gets-128-bit-encryption/).
Logitech had AES since at least 2009. Google: wireless keyboard
encryption
Also keep in mind some factors that mitigate wireless snooping risks:
* transmission power - not much you can do here, but the broadcast
power is not that high - how far away does your keyboard work from the
receiver? In my experience, this is limited to about 3 feet (usually
less - a lot less).
* distance to attacker's receiver - is the attacker in the same room
or in a van with a high-gain antenna parked on the street? If you have
a van parked outside, you might want to reconsider your lifestyle :)
Seriously, this year's defcon demonstrated screen viewing by receiving
the EM transmissions from the video cable (something the US and USSR
were doing 25 years ago), so wired keyboard tapping is not too far away.
* shielding - do you have objects between you and the attacker that
will absorb the transmissions? With a wired keyboard, you can wrap
the cable in a grounded coax sheath to shield the EM. Wireless? Might
have to wrap your room/house in a Faraday cage.
* time - how much is your keyboard in use? More use gives the
attacker more data to capture and analyze.
Just some stuff to think about. The threat is real, but the
probability is very low, unless you have other factors in your life
that would bring about the surveillance van, then the game is up -
nothing you can do will save you.
Cheers!
George Toft
On 11/8/2013 1:16 AM, Derek Trotter wrote:
What kind of encryption if any is used by wireless keyboards? Seems
to me that a wireless keyboard is a potential security issue. After
all, all sorts of usernames and passwords would be broadcast by one.
This would just make the NSA's or any other group of bad guys' job
easier.
--
"I get my copy of the daily paper, look at the obituaries page, and if I’m not
there, I carry on as usual."
Patrick Moore
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there, I carry on as usual."
Patrick Moore
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