{"id":14033,"date":"2017-06-08T08:37:39","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T07:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=14033"},"modified":"2017-06-08T08:45:33","modified_gmt":"2017-06-08T07:45:33","slug":"researchers-use-malware-turn-wifi-router-led-lights-data-signal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2017\/06\/researchers-use-malware-turn-wifi-router-led-lights-data-signal.html","title":{"rendered":"Researchers Use Malware to Turn WiFi Router LED Lights into Data Signal"},"content":{"rendered":"

A team of security researchers working at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel have developed a new piece of Malware called xLED<\/em>, which can control a broadband router and turn the device’s front-panel LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights into a transmission method for hackers or spies.<\/p>\n

In this approach a malicious code is executed on the LAN switch or router, allowing full control of the status LEDs. Sensitive data can then be encoded and modulated over the blinking of the LEDs, which can occur so quickly that your eyes might not even notice it happening. The generated signals can then be recorded by various types of remote cameras and optical sensors.<\/p>\n

The idea of hijacking a device’s LED lights for data extraction is not new, although it’s not been done like this before and is perhaps more interesting from a technological standpoint than as a serious security exploit (at least in terms of domestic connections). Indeed it’s been argued that anybody with enough access to do this could arguably far worse Malware<\/strong> (malicious software) on the router.<\/p>\n

However the story may be different if you happen to run a highly secure or air-gapped network (computers not connected to the internet), where the goal of an attacker (e.g. industrial espionage or state sponsored spies) may be to covertly extract your data (e.g. encryption keys, passwords and files) over a long period of time without detection.<\/p>\n

A paper published by the team<\/a><\/strong> shows that sensitive data could be covertly leaked via the status LEDs of switches and routers at bit rates of between 10bps (bits per second) and over 1Kbps (Kilobits per second) per LED, which occurs simply by switching the lights on and off at a very rapid pace (faster speeds are achieved by using more of the lights at the same time). Check out the video below.<\/p>\n