wireless keyboard security

[Derek Trotter]

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
>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------
>> PLUG-discuss mailing list -PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss

-- 
"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

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.phxlinux.org/pipermail/plug-discuss/attachments/20131108/e0a83909/attachment.html>