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A team of researchers from PSU (Pennsylvania State University) andIBM have designed a proof-of-concept Android Trojan app that cansteal passwords and other sensitive information by using thesmartphone's motion sensors to determine what keys victims tap ontheir touchscreens when unlocking their phones or inputting creditcard numbers during phone banking operations. The Trojan horse , dubbed TapLogger by its creators, was designedto demonstrate how data from a smartphone's accelerometer andorientation sensors can be abused by applications with no specialsecurity permissions to compromise privacy. [ Learn how to secure your systems with Roger Grimes' Security Adviser blog and Security Central newsletter , both from InfoWorld. ] TapLogger was created by Zhi Xu, a PhD candidate in the Departmentof Computer Science and Engineering at PSU, Kun Bai, a researcherat IBM T.J. Watson Research Center and Sencun Zhu, an associateprofessor of Computer Science and Engineering at PSU's College ofEngineering. Accelerometer and orientation sensor data are not protected underAndroid's security model, and this means that they are exposed toany application, regardless of its permissions on the system, theresearch team said in a paper (PDF) that was presented during the ACM Conference on Security andPrivacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks on Tuesday. The TapLogger application functions as an icon-matching game, butit has several background components that capture and use data fromthe motion sensors to infer touchscreen-based user input. When certain regions of the touchscreen are tapped during thenormal phone operation, the device experiences subtle moves. Forexample, tapping somewhere on the right side of the touchscreen,will cause the phone to tilt slightly to the right. These phone movements are picked up by the motion sensors and canthen be analyzed to build patterns corresponding to specific tapevents when performing certain actions, like when typing the screenunlock PIN or entering the credit card number during a phone call. After installation, TapLogger runs in training mode and collectsmotion sensor data while the user plays the icon-matching game.This is necessary because tap-generated movements can be differentfor every phone and user. After it has collected enough data, the Trojan app builds tap eventpatterns and starts using them to infer user input during targetedoperations. "While the applications relying on mobile sensing are booming, thesecurity and privacy issues related to such applications are notwell understood yet," the researchers said in their paper, notingthat other motion sensor-based attacks have been demonstrated inthe past. In August 2011, a pair of researchers from University of California proposed a similar attack and designed a concept application called TouchLogger todemonstrate it. However, compared to TouchLogger, TapLogger uses additionalorientation sensor readings and introduces the training mode fordevice-specific data. It also features stealth options and supportstwo practical attacks -- inferring screen unlock passwords andcredit card PIN numbers, the new Trojan's creators said. Another motion-sensor-based attack was presented in October 2011 by a research team from the Georgia Institute of Technology, whoused data from an iPhone 4's accelerometer and gyroscope to inferwhat was being typed on a computer keyboard positioned near thedevice. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Removing Iphone Screen Protector Manufacturer , Led Pen Lights Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Led Flashlight Keychains today!
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