[su_heading size=”18″ margin=”40″]A team of security researchers has presented an advanced hacking method for breaching mobile devices, which relies on the use of audio commands hidden in YouTube videos.[/su_heading]
Security researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and Georgetown University have devised a hacking method for breaching mobile devices, which is achieved through the use of hidden voice commands embedded in YouTube videos.
In order to hack a device, all that is required is to watch a specially crafted video, which contains embedded hidden voice commands.
These hidden commands are received by the digital assistants on users' mobile devices, such as Google Now and Siri, which filter the commands from sounds and other noises and execute them. As the researchers point out, although the voice commands used to carry out this type of attack are not understandable and perceived by human listeners, they are nevertheless interpreted as commands by the devices.
Also interesting is the fact that for hacking, users do not need to watch the video from their device, as the breach can also be achieved by watching the video from various nearby sources, such as a computer, laptop, Smart TV, smartphone or tablet.
The researchers published detailed details about this hacking technique in a paper titled “Hidden Voice Commands.”.
In the video below you can see the proof of concept of the attack, as documented by the researchers, and hear the commands - isolated from other sounds - that trigger the attack:
[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvZAZFztlO0″ width=”640″ height=”380″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvZAZFztlO0[/su_youtube]
