Smart assistants have arrived to make our lives easier, but what if we tell you that they also make life easy for thieves? That is what researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have wanted to demonstrate with their recent work on the use of a laser on devices with this type of virtual tools.
A laser to talk to Alexa
The experiment has found a fairly obvious vulnerability, but with overtones of science fiction. And it is that, in short, the idea is none other than to speak directly to the assistant to activate functions such as “open the main door” or “turn on the lights”, with the exception of doing it remotely, without the need to speak. And it is that, what thief would start shouting out loud from the street to activate Alexa? That's where the calls come in. light commands.
Based on the basic operation of a microphone, the researchers found a way to vibrate the membrane of the microphone so that the speaker believes that someone is speaking. In this way, by sending the necessary pulses, they manage to move the microphone membrane to imitate the sound waves of a voice command, so that the assistant takes action. As? Well, with a laser.
With the help of a laser they would be able to activate the microphone and, consequently, the assistant, and thus be able to activate whatever they please. As you may be imagining, the use of a laser would allow this technique to be used from a long distance, although, on the contrary, it will always be required to have a direct line of sight between the speaker and the attacker. In addition, taking into account the size of the holes present in the current loudspeakers, it would be necessary to have a lot of precision for the attack to take effect, and although the researchers have not gone into those details, we imagine that it is an experimental test always based on the best possible conditions.
Leaving aside whether or not this type of futuristic attack is viable, the interesting reflection that we must make in this case is to analyze the access that attendees have to key elements of our day to day. And we're not talking about email or messaging services, but about the connected devices that manage aspects of our home security, like lights, automatic doors, and plugs.
What do the giants think of this?
Both Amazon and Google have responded to questions about this study, ensuring that they will be attentive to progress and consult with the people in charge to better understand the work and work to guarantee the safety of their products. There is no doubt that the threat exists, even if taking advantage of it requires the aim of a professional sniper. If Alexa sometimes finds it difficult to understand us, how to hit a laser pointer in such a small hole.