EXPERTS have uncovered a creepy flaw hackers could make use of to sniff out details about your identity.
The malware is not only able to listen to calls – it can apparently work out private details too.
According to a group of researchers, the tech can recognise a person’s gender and identity.
The good news is, they’ve found it before anyone can actually take advantage of it.
And it’s quite complicated to pull off as well, so the real threat is probably quite low.
Nevertheless the way in which this one is done is quite different to previous hacks.
They were able to get hold of motion sensor data readings from reverberations in ear speakers.
As Bleeping Computer reports, this sort of thing has been looked at in smartphone loudspeakers before.
But tiny ear speakers weren’t considered much of a problem until now because they were thought to be too weak to create enough of a vibration for eavesdropping.
However, smartphone speakers all-round have got a lot better in recent years, so experts from Texas A&M University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Temple University, University of Dayton, and Rutgers University decided to put ear speakers to the test.
Add in sensitive motion sensors and gyroscopes – which is used to automatically detect when you’ve rotated your phone – and they can paint a picture about what’s being said in calls.
OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 9 Android devices were used in their experiments along with sample voice recordings.
There were some limitations to the test though – the biggest one being volume.
Phones with the volume turned down are far less likely to fall foul of this hack.
Experts have named the hack EarSpy.
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