Researchers have discovered that microphones that equip connected devices, speakers or even smartphones, can be controlled with a light, and more precisely the beam of a laser. And this, even at a distance greater than 100 meters.
It’s part of the spy movie, but four researchers from the University of Michigan and a researcher from a Tokyo university managed to hack connected speakers, and even smartphones, not by Wi-Fi or radio waves, but by the light! More precisely thanks to a laser.
How is it possible? In a demonstration developed on LightCommands, they explain that all connected objects are equipped with the same type of microphone with a diaphragm that deforms at the slightest sound. This is what allows voice recognition. It is this deformation that is then converted into an electrical signal to initiate a command for the device. Clearly, the ” OK Google ” or the ” Alexa ” vibrate the diaphragm and it is its distortion that translates into a command like “Launches my favorite radio” or “What’s the weather today? “.
It’s part of the spy movie, but four researchers from the University of Michigan and a researcher from a Tokyo university managed to hack connected speakers, and even smartphones, not by Wi-Fi or radio waves, but by the light! More precisely thanks to a laser.
How is it possible? In a demonstration developed on LightCommands, they explain that all connected objects are equipped with the same type of microphone with a diaphragm that deforms at the slightest sound. This is what allows voice recognition. It is this deformation that is then converted into an electrical signal to initiate a command for the device. Clearly, the ” OK Google ” or the ” Alexa ” vibrate the diaphragm and it is its distortion that translates into a command like “Launches my favorite radio” or “What’s the weather today? “.