Close X
Sunday, November 10, 2024
ADVT 
Tech

Smartwatches Vulnerable To Hacking: Indian-Origin Researcher Romit Roy Choudhury

Darpan News Desk IANS, 11 Sep, 2015 12:08 PM
    Planning to buy a smartwatch? Beware as you are at an increased risk of losing your privacy as like other computer devices, smartwatches are also vulnerable to hackers, says an Indian-origin researcher.
     
    Using a homegrown app on a Samsung “Gear Live” smartwatch, associate professor Romit Roy Choudhury from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was able to guess what a user was typing through data "leaks" produced by the motion sensors on smartwatches.
     
    "Sensor data from wearable devices will clearly be a double-edged sword.
     
    “While the device's contact to the human body will offer invaluable insights into human health and context, it will also make way for deeper violation into human privacy,” Choudhury said.
     
    His project called Motion Leaks through Smartwatch Sensors (MoLe) has privacy implications.
     
    An app that is camouflaged as a pedometer, for example, could gather data from emails, search queries and other confidential documents.
     
    “The core challenge is in characterising what can or cannot be
    inferred from sensor data and the MoLe project is one example along this direction,” he added.
     
    While a Samsung watch was used in this project, the researchers believe that any wearable device that uses motion sensors - from Apple Watch to Fitbit - could be vulnerable as well.
     
    The app uses an accelerometer and gyroscope to track the micro-motion of keystrokes as a wearer types on a keyboard.
     
    While Illinois researchers developed MoLe, it is conceivable that hackers could build a similar app and deploy it to iTunes and other libraries.
     
    “There are a lot of good things that smart watches can bring to our lives, but there could be bad things," noted He Wang, PhD student in electrical and computer engineering at Illinois.
     
    A possible solution to these motion leaks would be to lower the sample
    rate of the sensors in the watch.
     
    For instance, the sample rate is normally around 200 Hertz, meaning the system logs 200 accelerometer and gyroscope readings per second.
     
    “However, if that number is lowered to below 15, the users' wrist movements become extremely difficult to track,” the authors explained.
     
    The work, funded by the US National Science Foundation, will be presented at the MobiCom 2015 conference in Paris this week.

    MORE Tech ARTICLES

    Watch Out Apple: Luxury Timepiece Maker Tag Heuer To Make Smartwatches With Google And Intel

    Watch Out Apple: Luxury Timepiece Maker Tag Heuer To Make Smartwatches With Google And Intel
    NEW YORK — Watch out Apple: Swiss company Tag Heuer is developing its own smartwatch with tech rivals Google and Intel.

    Watch Out Apple: Luxury Timepiece Maker Tag Heuer To Make Smartwatches With Google And Intel

    Do Parents Share Excessively About Kids On Social Media?

    Do Parents Share Excessively About Kids On Social Media?
    You love to share the pics and videos of your kid's antics on social media. But are you ending up sharing too much? A lot of parents say yes.

    Do Parents Share Excessively About Kids On Social Media?

    Photo Sharing On Social Media Killing Real-life Enjoyment

    Photo Sharing On Social Media Killing Real-life Enjoyment
    Is your penchant for sharing photos on social networking sites preventing you from enjoying real life experiences? May be, suggests a new study.

    Photo Sharing On Social Media Killing Real-life Enjoyment

    Samsung ditches plastic design, adds mobile pay in new phone

    Samsung ditches plastic design, adds mobile pay in new phone
    Samsung, locked in a tight race with Apple to be the world's biggest smartphone maker, has unveiled an important new phone that ditches its signature plastic design for more stylish metal and glass.

    Samsung ditches plastic design, adds mobile pay in new phone

    Twitter bans hate speeches, abusive language

    Twitter bans hate speeches, abusive language
    Micro-blogging site Twitter has added new reporting tools to help it fight abuse and protect users on its site.

    Twitter bans hate speeches, abusive language

    Crazy about Selfies? Know the best time to post Selfie on Instagram

    Crazy about Selfies? Know the best time to post Selfie on Instagram
    Keen to post your selfie on Instagram? The time of posting is the key to get the maximum likes and comments for your cool picture, a new study has found.

    Crazy about Selfies? Know the best time to post Selfie on Instagram