If you are a fan of science fiction, I am sure it used to seem pretty impressive to watch the bad guys take control of a car using wireless signals, or see the protagonists pull off a major gig while sitting in the corner of a cafe somewhere. The good and bad news is that what was formerly considered science fiction is fast becoming the promise of technological advancement.
How it Works
What most devices have that makes this hacking possible is a small device called an accelerometer. Accelerometers are the tools used for navigating, determining the orientation of computers and measuring distance traveled in fitness monitors such as Fitbits, to name a few. Because of their many uses, accelerometers are found in numerous devices among them smartphones, fitness monitors as well as automobiles and medical machines.
Computer research experts from both the University of South Carolina and the University of Michigan conducted the experiment to show how sound waves could be used to control devices containing accelerometers. One of the team’s members was Kevin Fu, an associate professor at the University of Michigan and CEO of Virta Labs. He had this to say about the effect of sound waves on the accelerometers to an opera singer’s pitch and its effect on glass, saying, “It’s like the opera singer who hits the note to break a wine glass, only in our case, we can spell out words and enter commands rather than just shut down the phone.”
To illustrate their theory, the team used a toy car and the fitness monitor Fitbits. The researchers first dealt with the fitness monitor. By adding some fake files to the monitor, the group was able to gain unauthorized access the speakers of a nearby smartphone. Playing the ‘malicious’ music files then scrambled the software the smartphone depended on, allowing the monitor user a measure of control over the phone.
When it came to the toy car, the research team wrote in their publication that though it was not possible to interfere with the toy car itself, sound waves and vibrations could be used to force the accelerometer into the production of inaccurate readings. ‘We relied on the fact that a smartphone application relies on the accelerometer to control the car,’ they wrote.
What this means
Though the team did not succeed in finding ways to take ultimate control of a phone, monitor or car, the vulnerability they unveiled in the design of these devices is a bit alarming.
The discovery of the design flaw could lead to yet more chilling possibilities if put to vindictive use. It would mean that there’s a good chance a hacker could manipulate data on medical hardware to say, overdose a diabetic patient on insulin, or he or she could influence the flight of drones that use accelerometers to spy on an unaware owner, or simply crash a car. What this means is that hacking just got easier, and companies are called upon to upgrade their security or fix their products’ design flaws.
