A series of experiments took place by researchers that stem from the University of Michigan and Tokyo’s University of Electro-communications with these experiments targeting smart speakers. The target to achieve was to hack the smart speakers from Google, Amazon, Facebook as well as Apple – with the hacking being done by laser beans.
Now this may seem nothing more than what you see on a fictional sci-fi movie, however, as it turns out, not only is it completely doable, but all that was required was some equipment that wasn’t even that expensive. What the hacked voice-enabled devices were made to do was to open garages, and in some cases, even start vehicles. Of course, considering the fact that these functions are the primarily being used when we take into account smart speakers, this isn’t too surprising to see.
So how is this even possible?
Considering the fact that smart home devices usually are placed near that of windows or doors, attackers are presented with the opportunity of having a clear line of sight in order to initiate such laser-based attacks.
The microphones which are present on smart speakers have the tendency to convert the sound into electric signals. However, instead of sound, the attacker usually possesses the capabilities to encode unauthorized voice command right into a laser beam.
In order for the trick to work, the malicious laser is required to hit the microphone right on a smart speaker or indeed phone. What this does then is that it remotely causes the microphone to pick up electrical signals which represent the commands that the attacker has placed.
In the most simplest of terms, a hacker may be able to use this trick in order to switch the voice controlled device either on or off.
