Over time, hackers have found numerous ways to exfiltrate data from computers without requiring a network connection. But this might be one of the cleverest ways of stealing data from a computer.
Now, an “air-gapped” computer is a computing machine that is isolated from any unsecured networks. That is, you cannot connect it to the internet or any other machines that connect to the internet. A true air-gapped computer is also physically isolated. This means that you have to use physical devices like USB drives or removable media drives to transfer data.
How the Method Works
To execute the method, the attacker controls the LCD screen brightness, which remains invisible to the naked eye, to covertly modulate binary information in a morse-code like patterns. In LCD screens, to produce a single colour, each pixel has a combination of RGB colours. Now, in this proposed modulation, the RGB combination of each pixel is slightly changed. This remains invisible to the naked eye as it happens very fast and for a very short time.
Do You Need To Worry?
Now, you do not have to worry about anyone stealing your login ID or password through the window anytime. As the method proposes, the attacker would need to physically breach the to-be compromised machine and have a camera that they control installed within the line of sight. This can be useful for intelligence agencies to perform any high priority intrusions. But no attacker would just sit outside your window to take the login credentials of your Facebook account. So you can chill out and let government agencies worry about this method of stealing data.
