<div dir="ltr">this is creating great conversation!<div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div>:-)~MIKE~(-:</div>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 8:50 AM, Derek Trotter <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:expat.arizonan@gmail.com" target="_blank">expat.arizonan@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<font face="Comic Sans MS">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.<br>
<br>
</font><div><div>
<div>On 11/08/2013 07:43 AM, George Toft
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>Hi Derrick,<br>
<br>
Topic keeping you up at night? J/K<br>
<br>
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 (<a href="http://news.techworld.com/security/3284218/new-microsoft-wireless-keyboard-gets-128-bit-encryption/" target="_blank">http://news.techworld.com/security/3284218/new-microsoft-wireless-keyboard-gets-128-bit-encryption/</a>).
Logitech had AES since at least 2009. Google: wireless keyboard
encryption<br>
<br>
Also keep in mind some factors that mitigate wireless snooping
risks:<br>
* 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).<br>
* 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.<br>
* 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.<br>
* time - how much is your keyboard in use? More use gives the
attacker more data to capture and analyze.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<pre cols="72">Cheers!
George Toft
</pre>
On 11/8/2013 1:16 AM, Derek Trotter wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<font face="Comic Sans MS">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.</font><br>
<pre cols="72">--
"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</pre>
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<pre cols="72">--
"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</pre>
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