[HN Gopher] Van Eck Phreaking
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       Van Eck Phreaking
        
       Author : Grieving
       Score  : 52 points
       Date   : 2021-03-23 22:52 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | tetsuhamu wrote:
       | TEMPEST is available now, for free, on github.
       | 
       | All you need is a $20 RTL-SDR.
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjqpKtGNbQo
       | 
       | https://github.com/martinmarinov/TempestSDR
        
         | Forbo wrote:
         | Didn't know the barrier to entry had fallen so low. Last I saw
         | it was only under very specific conditions with lots of
         | expensive equipment that this stuff could be recovered.
        
       | tibbon wrote:
       | Why are there so few demonstration videos to be found of this?
       | The one tyingq listed is one of the few concrete ones I've ever
       | found. I remember reading about it in the 90's, but never being
       | able to find it actually working.
        
         | tetsuhamu wrote:
         | from 2 years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpNP9b3aIfY
        
       | Grieving wrote:
       | This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ5HS8GWIec) linked
       | at the bottom of the page shows the attack in action.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | tyingq wrote:
       | If you want to try it yourself:
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlVM9xqGKx8
       | 
       | Plays Fur Elise on a radio placed close to your monitor while you
       | play that video full screen.
        
         | tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
         | I always thought it requires a CRT screen, but I got a
         | surprisingly clear signal from my LCD screen.
         | 
         | Why does this work? Where does the recoverable signal leak? I
         | would expect a modern LCD to be full of digital signals sent in
         | unpredictable, manufacturer-specific ways, and certainly not
         | sequentially enough to leak as recognizable audio.
        
           | tyingq wrote:
           | My guess is that it's leaking in multiple places. Since it's
           | relatively crude by alternating "all black" and "all white"
           | pixels at different "switch rates", it generates recognizable
           | noise in multiple places. That seems to match all the
           | different frequencies you see people reporting to find it.
           | And people finding it regardless of how the signal is getting
           | to the monitor, LVDS, HDMI, VGA, etc.
           | 
           | The "requires a CRT screen" was, I think, referencing the
           | much more fine grained ability to actually recreate what was
           | displayed on a screen. Though that's been replicated for LCDs
           | now also.
        
             | lippel82 wrote:
             | Cheap HDMI cables typically leak image information quite
             | nicely. With the right equipment, it's really easy to get a
             | decent resolution image of the radiation picked up from an
             | HDMI cable even over tens of meters.
        
             | amelius wrote:
             | Isn't EMC testing supposed to uncover this kind of flaw,
             | and what does the FCC say about equipment which leaks like
             | this?
        
               | tyingq wrote:
               | They do, but it would fall under "unintentional
               | radiators", and the measurements are made at some
               | distance from the device. Something like this language:
               | Except for Class A digital devices, the field strength of
               | radiated emissions from unintentional radiators at a
               | distance of 3 meters shall not exceed the following
               | values:            Frequency of emission(MHz) Field
               | strength (microvolts/meter)       30-88         100
               | 88-216        150       216-960       200       Above 960
               | 500
        
       | gnfargbl wrote:
       | Don't miss https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_(codename),
       | which is at least as interesting.
        
         | mhh__ wrote:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_RAFTER another sneaky
         | one (highly recommend the book _spycatcher_ , really unique
         | perspective in that the author was a proper engineer on the
         | frontline in the cold war)
        
       | q_andrew wrote:
       | I remember when a character started rambling paragraphs about Van
       | Eck Phreaking in Cryptonomicon, it was immediately obvious that
       | this would become a plot device later in the book.
        
         | kedean wrote:
         | _POSSIBLE VAGUE SPOILER_
         | 
         | I don't recall it actually being a plot device though. It
         | effectively just served to drive Waterhouse's panic that
         | someone was watching him, but then it sort of fizzles out.
         | Unless I missed some implied detail, nobody actually ever used
         | it to spy on him.
        
           | kelnos wrote:
           | ANOTHER POSSIBLE VAGUE SPOILER
           | 
           | IIRC the protagonists actually do use Van Eck phreaking later
           | in the novel to read out what's on their adversary's laptop
           | screen from the next hotel room over.
        
             | mszcz wrote:
             | SPOILERS
             | 
             | IIRC it's not an adversary but their fiend with whom they
             | have a bet about whether Van Eck Phreaking works or not ;)
             | 
             | Also, Van Eck Phreaking's use by their adversaries is
             | implied when Randy's in jail and working on his laptop
             | decrypting the coordinates of the gold stash, again IIRC.
        
               | divbzero wrote:
               | SPOILERS
               | 
               | Yes, Randy avoids reading out the coordinates by monitor
               | to keep them safe from Van Eck phreaking.
        
               | ben_w wrote:
               | Spoilers rot13:
               | 
               | VVEP ur chgf snxr pbbeqvangrf ba uvf fperra naq trgf
               | vzzrqvngryl eryrnfrq, naq gur fhfcrpgrq bccbarag tbrf gb
               | gur snxr pbbeqvangrf
        
             | jillesvangurp wrote:
             | Here's the chapter in question with some helpful links. The
             | bit of furniture erotica showing on the screen is hilarious
             | (scroll towards the end)
             | 
             | https://lost-
             | contact.mit.edu/afs/adrake.org/usr/rkh/Books/bo...
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | cl0ne wrote:
         | Yes, I first learned about this from Cryptonomicon. Apparently
         | it wasn't performed using LCD screens until 5 years after the
         | book was published.
        
           | q_andrew wrote:
           | Say what you want about Stephenson's writing, but he
           | definitely has a knack for understanding concepts before they
           | enter the public consciousness.
        
             | davidw wrote:
             | Is that still true? Honest question.
             | 
             | Cryptonomicon did such a wonderful job of capturing a
             | certain something from the 1990ies. I haven't enjoyed his
             | more recent books as much. Seveneves was depressing. Dodge
             | had really bad reviews and I haven't bothered with it.
        
               | 2sk21 wrote:
               | I just loved Anathem, Reamde and Fall.
        
               | davidw wrote:
               | I liked Anathem and Reamde. DODO was ok, although it
               | leaves you hanging a bit and apparently the sequel is
               | even worse from that point of view, from the reviews.
        
               | q_andrew wrote:
               | Snow Crash is parody literature, but the fantasy is built
               | around very good predictions about the future. He coined
               | the word "avatar" for virtual characters, and the book
               | contains a direct inspiration for google maps.
        
               | SllX wrote:
               | Earth, initially. Keyhole cited Snow Crash as direct
               | inspiration for their EarthViewer application, what
               | became Google Earth post-acquisition.
        
               | ben_w wrote:
               | I really enjoyed Snow Crash; I felt that Seveneves was
               | two completely different books that were coincidentally
               | in the same universe, nether of which felt bad in
               | isolation, but they definitely didn't feel unified.
               | 
               | I wasn't a fan of Quicksilver, but as that was the first
               | historical novel I've listened to, and as it was award
               | winning, I assume it must be more about my tastes than
               | the quality of the writing?
        
               | davidw wrote:
               | I liked the second part of Seveneves, but the first bit
               | felt really depressing, and more than a bit unrealistic.
               | 
               | I liked Quicksilver, but could easily see how it's not
               | everyone's cup of tea.
        
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       (page generated 2021-03-24 23:00 UTC)