Dive Brief:
- A San Francisco-based cybersecurity startup on Wednesday said it uncovered a flaw in wireless mice that could leave people at risk of a hack, according to a Reuters report.
- The company, Bastille, said wireless mice made from several large tech companies—like HP, Lenovo, Amazon and Dell—use unencrypted signals to communicate with computers, which can allow hackers to take over a computer or gain access to a network.
- Companies rarely think about protecting all cyber traffic across the entire radio spectrum, said Bastille researchers.
Dive Insight:
In October, Gartner said the growth of wireless devices and IoT means unprecedented new challenges for IT security professionals. As more things are connected via sensors, Gartner said, physical security will be merged with cybersecurity, giving security professionals and CIOs new areas of responsibility.
Bastille researchers found an antenna, a wireless chip called a dongle and a short line of code can be used to trick a wireless chip connected to a computer into accepting it as a mouse. Hackers can fool the dongle into believing the attached mouse is actually a keyboard.
Once they gain access, a hacker could take over a computer in seconds. Researchers at Bastille said they could be as far as 180 meters away, or an entire city block, before they were out of hacking range.
In response, Bastille said, some companies have offered firmware updates to fix the security flaw and Bluetooth devices are not susceptible.
