Hacker-friendly AI Tools listens to keyboard sounds, steals passwords with 95% accuracy: Study
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According to worrying findings of a research published earlier this month, hackers might use artificial intelligence techniques to acquire user passwords with near-perfect accuracy by "listening" to an unsuspecting person's keystrokes.
Another danger element for the emerging technology is the likelihood of AI technologies assisting hackers.
A number of prominent academics, like OpenAI founder Sam Altman and entrepreneur Elon Musk, have cautioned that AI might represent a substantial risk to humans if sufficient safeguards are not in place.
A group of computer scientists from the United Kingdom created an artificial intelligence model to recognize keyboard noises on the 2021 version of a MacBook Pro — dubbed a "popular off-the-shelf laptop."
According to Cornell University's study results, when the AI software was enabled on a nearby smartphone, it was able to duplicate the inputted password with a stunning 95% accuracy.
During a Zoom video chat, the hacker-friendly AI tool was also incredibly accurate while "listening" to typing over the laptop's microphone.
According to the researchers, it duplicated the keystrokes with 93% accuracy, a record for the medium.
The researchers cautioned that many users are unaware that malicious actors may monitor their typing in order to breach accounts - a sort of hack known as an "acoustic side channel attack."
"The ubiquity of keyboard acoustic emanations not only makes them a readily available attack vector, but also prompts victims to underestimate (and thus not try to hide) their output," according to the report.
"For example, when typing a password, people will frequently hide their screen but do little to mask the sound of their keyboard."
To test accuracy, the researchers pushed 36 keys on the laptop 25 times apiece, with each press "varying in pressure and finger."
The application could "listen" for distinguishing aspects of each key stroke, such as sound wavelengths. The iPhone 13 mini was positioned 17 cm away from the keyboard.
A number of prominent academics, like OpenAI founder Sam Altman and entrepreneur Elon Musk, have cautioned that AI might represent a substantial risk to humans if sufficient safeguards are not in place.