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Author Topic: POTENTIAL MAJOR SECURITY FLAW ON HP LAPTOP DISCOVERED WITH RTL-SDR  (Read 1465 times)

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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POTENTIAL MAJOR SECURITY FLAW ON HP LAPTOP DISCOVERED WITH RTL-SDR
« on: September 04, 2013, 2347 UTC »
Over on Reddit, user cronek discovered by using his RTL-SDR that the microphone on his HP EliteBook 8460p laptop computer was continuously and unintentionally transmitting the audio from the built in microphone at 24 MHz in FM modulation. He found that the only requirement needed for the microphone to transmit was that the laptop needed to be turned on – even muting the microphone did nothing to stop the transmission.

I accidentally stumbled upon a signal in the 24MHz range, appearing to be 4 carriers. I tuned to it and heard silence, then someone came into my office and started talking and I could hear them speak. The signal appeared to be coming from my other laptop (not the one running the SDR) and was pretty weak (my antenna, the crappy one that comes with the dongle, stuck to a metal stapler was right next to the HP laptop).

http://www.rtl-sdr.com/potential-major-security-flaw-hp-laptop-discovered-rtl-sdr/
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Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
eQSLs appreciated! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com
netSDR / AFE822x / AirSpy HF+ / KiwiSDR / 900 ft Horz skyloop / 500 ft NE beverage / 250 ft V Beam / 58 ft T2FD / 120 ft T2FD / 400 ft south beverage / 43m, 20m, 10m  dipoles / Crossed Parallel Loop / Discone in a tree

cmradio

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Re: POTENTIAL MAJOR SECURITY FLAW ON HP LAPTOP DISCOVERED WITH RTL-SDR
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2013, 0518 UTC »
Woah! :o

24MHz wouldn't go very far. What about harmonics?

Peace!
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