Communications of the ACM
Researchers Demonstrate 3d Spy Trojan For Mobile Phones
PlaceRaider is a program that uses a smartphone's camera to take photos of its surroundings and construct a 3D model of the environment.
Credit: Joos Mind/Getty Images
Researchers at Indiana University (IU) Bloomington and the Naval Surface Warfare Center have developed PlaceRaider, a program that uses a phone's camera to take pictures of its surroundings and construct a three-dimensional (3D) model of the environment.
The researchers say PlaceRaider demonstrates that hackers could identify and steal information from a remote location. "Not only do they have access to your digital data on your device, they can listen to your environment; they can look at your environment; and they can feel the environment through the accelerometer," says IU Bloomington professor Apu Kapadia.
The researchers used PlaceRaider to take pictures of the phone's current environment and then used the photos and motion information from the accelerometer to create 3D models of the surroundings. The researchers say hackers can use these models to identify objects of interest within the environment and steal information on computer monitors, financial documents, or other accessible information. The researchers suggest that permission changes and forcing the camera to make a shutter sound could help prevent attacks.
From eWeek
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