Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad

Re:Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad by artiscode on Friday April 03, 2020 @12:59PM (#22771437)

Ditto. Or even an old-school LED that indicates data transmission like the HDD LED in old computer cases. Make it in hardware so that if any data is sent through the wire, it lights up.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad by kick on Friday April 03, 2020 @02:39PM (#22772659)

HDD LED in old computer cases

Old? I'll admit I haven't changed my case in a couple years, but mine currently has one, and I can't remember the last time I've used a desktop computer that didn't have one.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad by notRobot on Friday April 03, 2020 @03:47PM (#22773298)

old, adj: Having lived or existed for a relatively long time;

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/old

Old doesn't have to mean extinct :)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad by robin_reala on Friday April 03, 2020 @03:10PM (#22772965)

Unfortunately those were immediately susceptible to tempest attacks, at least at old hard drive speeds.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad by angry_octet on Friday April 03, 2020 @03:56PM (#22773362)

I think you are confusing this with data tx/rx lights for exfil[0]? I've never heard of a tempest attack (that is, revealing the data written via a side channel) on a hard drive light.

[0] Guri et al, LED-it-GO

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1702.06715.pdf

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad by robin_reala on Friday April 03, 2020 @04:19PM (#22773559)

I think it’s this paper I remember that describes it as an “optical tempest” and talks about storage mechanism leakage: http://applied-math.org/acm_optical_tempest.pdf

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad by angry_octet on Friday April 03, 2020 @05:51PM (#22774278)

Yeah it's type II in the Loughry schema. Still unfortunate if you're operating a high security air gapped network, but not squirting out secrets without being compromised first.

It seems almost quaint to worry about this when so much software has web spyware baked into it -- but maybe we need a virtual spyware led that lights up every time something talks to Facebook/Google/etc tracking. The light would be blinking non-stop for many people.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad by iNate2000 on Friday April 03, 2020 @08:55PM (#22775323)

It would just never go out.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad by jachee on Friday April 03, 2020 @01:09PM (#22771587)

People already complain about the price and battery life of current phones. I can’t imagine either of those things making either situation better.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad by dandelany on Friday April 03, 2020 @01:38PM (#22771982)

You can get SMD 0603 LEDs that use ~1mA of power for a few pennies in bulk. Peanuts compared to the power usage and price of the rest of the phone.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Hardware Microphone Disconnect in Mac and iPad by rimlicker on Friday April 03, 2020 @02:08PM (#22772316)

yeah that LED cost is going to drive my 1400 phone price up through the roof

[ Parent | on HN ]