Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room
Meet “badBIOS,” the mysterious Mac and PC malware that jumps airgaps
Deozaan:
"even when their power cords ... were removed"
Any discussion after this? :huh:
-rgdot (November 06, 2013, 09:16 AM)
--- End quote ---
In other words, even when they were running on battery.
rgdot:
So why start the sentence with 'even when their'?
Deozaan:
So why start the sentence with 'even when their'?-rgdot (November 06, 2013, 09:57 AM)
--- End quote ---
Let's see the full sentence:
Strangest of all was the ability of infected machines to transmit small amounts of network data with other infected machines even when their power cords and Ethernet cables were unplugged and their Wi-Fi and Bluetooth cards were removed.
--- End quote ---
-Renegade (November 01, 2013, 02:51 AM)
--- End quote ---
That means the infected machines could transmit small amounts of network data to other infected machines. Even machines with power cords unplugged (running on battery). And with Ethernet cables unplugged. And with their Wi-Fi and Bluetooth cards removed.
The idea was that possibly it was transmitting data through the power line, so they made sure to run it on battery without the power cord plugged into the wall. They also disconnected all other standard networking hardware.
rgdot:
So we are worried someone has invented communications without needing layer 1? How likely is that?
My point is a security guy thinks a machine running on battery is functionally different than on cord. If you are worried about data moving up or down you need to remove communications interfaces and hardware, even if you are worried about data over power lines.
Stoic Joker:
So we are worried someone has invented communications without needing layer 1? How likely is that?-rgdot (November 06, 2013, 10:37 AM)
--- End quote ---
Anything wanted bad enough by the right people tends to get created or found by someone shortly thereafter...generally for a price.
My point is a security guy thinks a machine running on battery is functionally different than on cord. If you are worried about data moving up or down you need to remove communications interfaces and hardware, even if you are worried about data over power lines.-rgdot (November 06, 2013, 10:37 AM)
--- End quote ---
He did. It was only after disconnecting the obvious stuff that he got down to the unlikely stuff, and was then left with the truly ridiculous stuff because activity was still being seen. Which landed the debate on the practicality of trying to send usefully sized data using sounds outside the normal range of hearing with laptop speakers and microphones. Which as ludicrous as this may sound, if the object is to just get a foot in the door of an isolated system it could be a viable option if a very short yet finely pointed message could be crafted.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version