Security researchers found that poor shielding on some keyboard cables can provide data over the power grid. Military security people have known about this for a long time. The TEMPEST program exist in the US to make sure that certain facilities are, in fact, secure. Power has to be filtered in secure facilities.By analysing the information leaking onto power circuits, researchers could intercept what a person was typing. Data could be collected at a distance of up to 15 m.
"Our goal is to show that information leaks in the most unexpected ways and can be retrieved," wrote Andrea Barisani and Daniele Bianco, of security firm Inverse Path.
The research focused on the cables used to connect PS/2 keyboards to desktop PCs.
The six wires inside a PS/2 cable are typically "close to each other and poorly shielded". This means that information travelling along the data wire, when a key is pressed, leaks onto the earth (ground in the US) wire in the same cable.
The earth wire, via the PC's power unit, connects to the plug in the power socket. The data travels along PS/2 cables one bit at a time and uses a clock speed far lower than any other PC component. This make it easy to pick out voltage changes caused by key presses with a digital oscilloscope,
The attack is due to be demonstrated at the Black Hat conference that takes place in Las Vegas from 25-30 July. One solution might be to replace the PS2 keyboard with the newer USB keyboard.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8147534.stm
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