Dive Brief:

• Security researchers at Black Hat this week demonstrated how they can take over equipment inside computers to steal data and then transmit it elsewhere via sound waves.

• The program takes control of the prongs on input/output circuits and vibrates them at a chosen frequency.

• The vibrations can then be picked up with a radio antenna.

Dive Insight:

Hackers would, however, need an antenna close to the targeted building to pick up the sound waves, Ang Cui of Red Balloon Security said. But if they were able to make it work, Cui said the hacking method would be difficult to detect because data leaving the premises could not be tracked.

Cui will release “proof-of-concept” code after Black Hat, allowing others to build on his idea.

The tool’s development is yet another example of how devices can be manipulated to allow hackers new and varied ways to access data illegally.