• 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

Critical WordPress Post SMTP plugin flaw exposes 200K+ sites to full takeover

 | 

Scattered Spider targets VMware ESXi in using social engineering

 | 

China-linked group Fire Ant exploits VMware and F5 flaws since early 2025

 | 

Allianz Life data breach exposed the data of most of its 1.4M customers

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 55

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 534 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

Law enforcement operations seized BlackSuit ransomware gang’s darknet sites

 | 

Arizona woman sentenced for aiding North Korea in U.S. IT job fraud scheme

 | 

Operation CargoTalon targets Russia’s aerospace with EAGLET malware,

 | 

Unpatched flaw in EoL LG LNV5110R cameras lets hackers gain Admin access

 | 

Koske, a new AI-Generated Linux malware appears in the threat landscape

 | 

Mitel patches critical MiVoice MX-ONE Auth bypass flaw

 | 

Coyote malware is first-ever malware abusing Windows UI Automation

 | 

SonicWall fixed critical flaw in SMA 100 devices exploited in Overstep malware attacks

 | 

DSPM & AI Are Booming: $17.87B and $4.8T Markets by 2033

 | 

Stealth backdoor found in WordPress mu-Plugins folder

 | 

U.S. CISA adds CrushFTP, Google Chromium, and SysAid flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Sophos fixed two critical Sophos Firewall vulnerabilities

 | 

French Authorities confirm XSS.is admin arrested in Ukraine

 | 
  • 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
  • Breaking News
  • Hacking
  • Mobile
  • DolphinAttack – Hackers control Siri, Google Now, Alexa voice assistants with ultrasound

DolphinAttack – Hackers control Siri, Google Now, Alexa voice assistants with ultrasound

Pierluigi Paganini September 08, 2017

The DolphinAttack technique allows hackers to control Siri, Google Now, Alexa and other voice assistants with commands in ultrasonic frequencies.

A team of researchers from the Chinese Zhejiang University has demonstrated how to control several popular speech recognition systems using ultrasound.

The attack technique was dubbed ‘DolphinAttack’, it was successfully tested against Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, Google Now, Huawei HiVoice, Microsoft Cortana, Samsung S Voice,  and also the speech recognition system installed an Audi Q3 models.

DolphinAttack

The researchers were able to modulate various voice commands on ultrasonic carriers making them inaudible to humans. The experts demonstrated than modulating voice commands at a frequency of 20,000 Hz or higher, they were able to activate the systems.

The researchers were able to able to provide the systems with common activation commands (“Hey Siri,” “OK Google,” “Hi Galaxy” and “Alexa,”)and several recognition commands including “Call 1234567890,” “Open dolphinattack.com,” “turn on airplane mode” and “open the back door.”

The team tested the DolphinAttack method against 7 different speech recognition systems running on 16 devices.

The DolphinAttack method was the most effective against Siri on an iPhone 4s and Alexa on Amazon’s Echo personal assistant device, the researchers discovered it was possible to provide voice commands over a distance of nearly 2 meters (6.5 feet).

Test results were independent of the language used, but the type of command provided to the system did it.

“The length and content of a voice command can influence the success rate and the maximum distance of attacks. We are rigorous in the experiments by demanding every
single word within a command to be correctly recognized, though this may be unnecessary for some commands. For instance, “Call/FaceTime 1234567890” and “Open dolphinattack.com” is harder to be recognized than “Turn on airplane mode” or “How’s the weather today?”.” states the research paper.

Other factors impacted the test results, such as the background noise, the researchers observed that the recognition rates for the command “turn on airplane mode” decreased to 30% when used on the street compared to 100% in an office and 80% in a cafe.

The researchers also proposed a series of hardware- and software-based defenses against the DolphinAttack method.

The researchers suggest manufacturers address this issue simply by programming their devices to ignore commands at 20 kHz or higher frequencies.

“A microphone shall be enhanced and designed to suppress any acoustic signals whose frequencies are in the ultrasound range. For instance, the microphone of iPhone 6 Plus can resist to inaudible voice commands well,” concluded the researchers .

From the user’s perspective, a solution to protect them from DolphinAttack is turning off voice assistant apps by going into settings.

[adrotate banner=”9″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – ShadowBrokers, hacking)

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

DolphinAttack Hacking mobile

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 28, 2025
Critical WordPress Post SMTP plugin flaw exposes 200K+ sites to full takeover
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 28, 2025
Scattered Spider targets VMware ESXi in using social engineering
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

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

    recent articles

    Critical WordPress Post SMTP plugin flaw exposes 200K+ sites to full takeover

    Security / July 28, 2025

    Scattered Spider targets VMware ESXi in using social engineering

    Cyber Crime / July 28, 2025

    China-linked group Fire Ant exploits VMware and F5 flaws since early 2025

    Hacking / July 28, 2025

    Allianz Life data breach exposed the data of most of its 1.4M customers

    Data Breach / July 27, 2025

    SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 55

    Malware / July 27, 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