• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Qilin ransomware claimed responsibility for the attack on the beer giant Asahi

 | 

DragonForce, LockBit, and Qilin, a new triad aims to dominate the ransomware landscape

 | 

DraftKings thwarts credential stuffing attack, but urges password reset and MFA

 | 

Redis patches 13-Year-Old Lua flaw enabling Remote Code Execution

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

GoAnywhere MFT zero-day used by Storm-1175 in Medusa ransomware campaigns

 | 

CrowdStrike ties Oracle EBS RCE (CVE-2025-61882) to Cl0p attacks began Aug 9, 2025

 | 

Discord discloses third-party breach affecting customer support data

 | 

Oracle patches critical E-Business Suite flaw exploited by Cl0p hackers

 | 

LinkedIn sues ProAPIs for $15K/Month LinkedIn data scraping scheme

 | 

Zimbra users targeted in zero-day exploit using iCalendar attachments

 | 

Reading the ENISA Threat Landscape 2025 report

 | 

Ghost in the Cloud: Weaponizing AWS X-Ray for Command & Control

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 65

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 544 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

GreyNoise detects 500% surge in scans targeting Palo Alto Networks portals

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Smartbedded Meteobridge, Samsung, Juniper ScreenOS, Jenkins, and GNU Bash flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

ShinyHunters Launches Data Leak Site: Trinity of Chaos Announces New Ransomware Victims

 | 

ProSpy, ToSpy malware pose as Signal and ToTok to steal data in UAE

 | 

Google warns of Cl0p extortion campaign against Oracle E-Business users

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Cyber warfare
  • Hacking
  • Malware
  • Security
  • Malware can infect system using Inaudible Audio signals

Malware can infect system using Inaudible Audio signals

Pierluigi Paganini December 04, 2013

German researchers demonstrated how a malware can infect system in air gapped networks and transfer stolen data using Inaudible Audio signals.

The shocking news that it is possible to infect a computer with Inaudible Audio signals is circulating within the security community has been circulating for several weeks between denials and confirmations.
In October the security researcher Dragos Ruiu described a malware codenamed badBIOS characterized by the capability to infect targeted machines using sound waves as transmission vector, immediate was the skeptical reaction of the world security community.
Even if a computer system is isolated from the Internet, and any if the use of any mobile devices (e.g. USB stick, mobile storage) is not allowed, an attacker could infect the target just using Inaudible Audio signals.
The proof of concept has been provided by German scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics, that designed malware prototype, the scientists also have published a paper describing on how malware can be designed to cross the air gap by transmitting data through common speakers and recording it via microphone. The malicious code relies on network stack originally developed for underwater communication and the propagation of the signal exploit a software-defined modem based on the GNU Radio project.
The computers operates as a mesh network where each node can send or receive audio emanation, and implements routing activities sending data to the next hop in the chain before it’s received by the attacker.
“The concept of a covert acoustical mesh network renders many conventional security concepts useless, as acoustical communications are usually not considered,” states the paper.
Malware exploit Inaudible Audio signals
The fake sense of security that isolating a network is possible to protect a network was dismantled by the news.
The methods attack open the way to scaring scenarios, let’s think of the ability to infect any ability air gapped network within a critical infrastructure exploiting Inaudible Audio signals as a vector to spread malicious code for sabotage or for cyber espionge.
The attack scenario is described in the paper with the below statement:
“The infected victim sends all recorded keystrokes to the covert acoustical mesh network. Infected drones forward the keystroke information inside the covert network till the attacker is reached, who is now able to read the current keyboard input of the infected victim from a distant place.”
The researchers demonstrated that the malware is able to transfer data at a very low transfer rate, 20 bits /Sec, that anyway are enough to transfer sensitive data such as user’s credential or any other personal information.
The researchers also demonstrated how to use sound waves to send keystroke information to a network-connected computer, which then sent the data back to the attacker via email.
Malware exploit Inaudible Audio signals2
How to mitigate a similar attack?
Some basic countermeasures can be implemented to protect systems against malware transferred via Inaudible Audio signals:
  • Switching off the audio input and output devices from the system.
  • Employ audio filtering that blocks high-frequency ranges.
  • Using an Audio Intrusion Detection Guard.

The paper describes is very intriguing because it incorporates the Dragos Ruiu’s allegations, it remark the principle that is possible to infect a “disconnected system” exploiting a different channel for malware propagation.

Michael Hanspach and Michael Goetz confirmed that there is no connection between their paper and badBIOS, Hanspach said their attack is feasible today because the utilized techniques are well documented.

“If we were able to come up with this research with very few people, time and budget (and with good intentions), so would be larger groups (maybe with a different intention),”  “Therefore, anyone working in a security critical context should be thinking about protection measures.” Hanspach said via email to the Threatpost.

Let’s wait for a security solution, meantime security managers of critical computing systems are advised.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs –  Malware, Inaudible Audio signals)

 


facebook linkedin twitter

antivirus BadBIOS critical computing systems cyber attack cyber warfare Dragos Ruiu GNU Radio Hacking Hacking System Inaudible Audio Signals Intrusion Detection keylogger malware

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini October 08, 2025
Qilin ransomware claimed responsibility for the attack on the beer giant Asahi
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini October 08, 2025
DragonForce, LockBit, and Qilin, a new triad aims to dominate the ransomware landscape
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Qilin ransomware claimed responsibility for the attack on the beer giant Asahi

    Cyber Crime / October 08, 2025

    DragonForce, LockBit, and Qilin, a new triad aims to dominate the ransomware landscape

    Cyber Crime / October 08, 2025

    DraftKings thwarts credential stuffing attack, but urges password reset and MFA

    Security / October 08, 2025

    Redis patches 13-Year-Old Lua flaw enabling Remote Code Execution

    Security / October 08, 2025

    U.S. CISA adds Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Hacking / October 07, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT