September 20, 2005

Researchers recover typed text using audio recording of keystrokes. "What makes the technique feasible is that each keystroke makes a relatively distinct sound, however subtle, when hit. Typical users type about 300 characters per minute, leaving enough time for a computer to isolate the sounds of individual keystrokes and categorize the letters based upon the statistical characteristics of English text."

So, what method could you use to defeat this? I checked to see if this is a double-post but could not find anything. Sorry if it's a repeat.

posted by Zanshin 19 years ago
  • So, what method could you use to defeat this? Always be screaming at the top of your lungs while typing!
  • drjimmy11, have you been spying on me?
  • Copy and paste characters, one at a time, from a preconstructed text file containing all characters you might ever want to use (or Windows Character Map).
  • Where'd I leave my damn foil helmet?
  • But this isn't news, they did the exact same thing on that movie with Robert Redford and Sidney Poitier.
  • I find repeatedly typing 'Fuck off you nosey bastards' helps.
  • Learn Dvorak and type really, really fast. Or use German, or Esperanto, or Pig Latin.
  • LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA I can't hear you, I'm typing!!!
  • I like the dvorak idea, or you could use a virtual laser keyboard and project it on a soft surface, like velvet.
  • anyway, this is easy to fix. White Noise. Or Pink Noise. Or any masking sound, using a specific set of frequencies, played on a mimimally disruptive set of speakers. You wouldn't even need it in the vicinity of the keyboard (avoiding annoyance) but exterior to the room (unless you are suspicious of listening devices planted inside it), or better yet, acoustically aimed out of the area. You could also simply create silent keyboards using alternate materials or acoustiblock foam.
  • ...Or you could dictate stuff out loud to someone else to type for you... Wait...no....that won't work... Er...
  • I type about 50 characters a minute because I... need... time... to... think... And I have the loudest keyboard in the universe with real micro switches. Let the spooks come, I don't type anything remotely secret anyway on this computer. My secret communication with my ringleader I do in hand gestures (Arabic Sign Language) in front of my encrypted webcam.
  • Firstly, fantastic post. I love stuff like this. Luckily, I type in run-on-sentences, usually, just like I talk, so I think the spyers, spy-ers?, would end up thinking the comma is something important, like 'a' or 's', or something. Secondly, that's not what happened in Sneakers, chyren. The blind guy, Stratharain I think, didn't hear the keys to guess the password, he heard the hot Romanian professor saying she left a message on his voicemail, which indicated that the answering machine on the desk wasn't an answering machine at all (because why would he need one when he's got voicemail), but actually was a cover for the magic chip. Thirdly, I think aliens would offer good cover noise for typing. I think this because after watching Signs, my roommate freaked out when I started typing on my laptop near him.
  • Weren't they trying to decipher the password by listening to what he typed? Oh, wrong, they were watching a video. Fuckit. Just ignore me, then.
  • Oh good, my constant stream of muttering and bitching finally has a practical use!
  • Turn up the music. Preferrably something grating, like Michael Bolton. And, er, listening to it on headphones is probably A Bad Idea, for several reasons.
  • "There was nothing wrong with it... until I was about 12 years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys."
  • I'm deploying my Neil Sedaka Defense Screen as we speak.
  • Sneakers is an awesome movie, though, Chy.
  • oh, Chyren, that's mesmerizing. /takes shower