KeySniffer Vulnerability

Balint Seeber of Bastille explains the KeySniffer vulnerability. Affected wireless keyboards transmit keystrokes to their USB dongle unencrypted, in the clear, so an attacker with cheap radio hardware and an antenna can receive everything typed, including passwords, credit card numbers, and Social Security numbers. The defense is to avoid unencrypted keyboards in favor of encrypted or secure Bluetooth ones.

Key Takeaways

• KeySniffer-vulnerable keyboards send keystrokes to their dongle with no encryption
• An attacker with inexpensive radio hardware can capture everything typed, including passwords and financial data
• The keystrokes appear on the attacker’s screen exactly as on the victim’s
• The defense is to use keyboards with encryption or secure Bluetooth instead of vulnerable models

Video Transcript

Hello. My name is Balint Seeber, and I'm the Director of Vulnerability Research at Bastille. I'd like to take you through the KeySniffer vulnerability. Here we have somebody that's using their computer, and they're typing on a wireless keyboard that is susceptible to a KeySniffer attack. Usually when you're using a wireless keyboard, when you press a key, the keyboard will transmit RF packets to a USB dongle plugged into the computer.

And as you type, those RF packets will be interpreted as keystrokes by the computer, and then the appropriate characters will appear on the screen. In this internet connected age, when online, commonly you enter in a lot of sensitive information as you're going about your daily business. For example, if you're making purchases online, you'll enter in your credit card information, you will also enter in things like your date of birth, and Social Security number. And of course, everybody has passwords for all of the sites they use.

The issue here is that this particular keyboard sends the keystrokes, but they are not encrypted. That means that the individual keys that are sent are sent in the clear. This enables an attacker with some cheap radio hardware and an antenna to receive those same packets as your legitimate dongle would do. So anything that is typed into your computer will also appear on the attacker's screen.

Once they have harvested your sensitive information, an attacker can go away and use that very same information to protect yourself, ensure that you're not using a vulnerable keyboard that implements no encryption. There are keyboards out there that implement encryption, but also there are Bluetooth keyboards that have a high level of security. And to find out more information and to see if you're affected, please visit our website. [MUSIC PLAYING] PLAYING]