‘Everywhere There’s a Camera, There’s Now a Risk’: Billions of Users Are at Risk from Peeping Toms – Scientists Come Up with an Incredibly Simple Eavesdropping System That Costs Just a Few Hundred Dollars

By James On Feb 17, 2024

A new threat to privacy has emerged as scientists in the US have found a way to spy on video feeds from cameras on devices ranging from smartphones to home security systems.

The method, known as EM eyecan even capture images through walls, raising major concerns about the potential for misuse.

The research, led by Kevin Fu, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University, focuses on a vulnerability in the data transmission cables in most modern cameras. These cables inadvertently act as radio antennas, leaking electromagnetic information that can be picked up and decoded to reveal real-time video footage.

Any camera that is potentially at risk

As reported by TechXploreThe vulnerability exists because manufacturers focus on protecting cameras’ intentional digital interfaces, such as the upload channel to the cloud, but overlook the potential for information leakage through unintended channels. “This thread was never intended to become a radio station, but it has,” Fu explains. “If you have your lens open, even if you think you have the camera off, we are cashing in.”

The EM Eye method has been tested on 12 different types of cameras, including smartphone cameras, dashcams and home security systems. The distance required to eavesdrop varies, but in some cases this can be done up to 5 meters away.

This technique does not require the camera to record, meaning any device with an open lens is potentially at risk. Fu suggests that consumers consider using plastic lens caps as a first step to reducing this threat, although he notes that infrared signals can still pass through them.

Fu hopes these findings will serve as a wake-up call for manufacturers to address this vulnerability in their designs. “If you want to have a complete cybersecurity story, yes, do the good science, but you also have to do the computer engineering and electrical engineering if you want to protect against these types of eavesdropping surveillance threats,” he says.

In a world where cameras are ubiquitous, this research highlights a significant and widespread risk to privacy. As Fu puts it, “Basically wherever there is a camera there is a risk.”