Scariest thing this Halloween...

[[ptx]]

..is this.

It's apparently real, btw.

Fuck.

[Swaggart]

Terrifying.

[Paul]

It's probably some alien invasion presquabble. Guess I gotta learn how to use slide rule then.

[Xant]

Only scary if you believe it's true.

[cmp]

101% real

[Molly]

The thing I doubt the most is the ultra-high-frequency thing... I am no IT guy but I know my electronics pretty well. That sounds like hogwash to me.

IF true, I am more fascinated than frightened tbh

[CrazyCracka420]

The thing I doubt the most is the ultra-high-frequency thing... I am no IT guy but I know my electronics pretty well. That sounds like hogwash to me.

IF true, I am more fascinated than frightened tbh

I wasn't around (well not using technology) but you used to connect to the internet by putting a phone into a modem (transmitting data over audio signals), so basically how the viruses were transmitting in the article.  Even the 56k modems used sound frequencies to transmit data (albeit over a physical line). 

It is pretty crazy though...something to keep in mind when troubleshooting viruses.

Also fuck Apples, go Banana!

[Molly]

I wasn't around (well not using technology) but you used to connect to the internet by putting a phone into a modem (transmitting data over audio signals), so basically how the viruses were transmitting in the article.  Even the 56k modems used sound frequencies to transmit data (albeit over a physical line). 

It is pretty crazy though...something to keep in mind when troubleshooting viruses.

Also fuck Apples, go Banana!

I know, my first connection to the internet that I made was with 28.8k modem...
...but that wasn't the case in the article. In theory it might work with a speaker and a microphone but transmitting like that would need a rather powerful speaker and a top notch microphone. Those standard capacitive microphones you get in a notebook... well, the noise on that transmission... not to mention that every coffee maker and vacuum cleaner would transmit partly into it... it sounds very very fishy. He's not talking about a test setup in a lab but about standard consumer electronics...

Edit: Another thing... the transmission would only work if there is a transmitter and a receiver. You can't infect hardware using that kind of transmission w/o the receiving end being already listening. In theory, transceiving between already infected hardware... big maybe but infecting that way? No way.

[Radament]

"With the speakers and mic intact, Ruiu said, the isolated computer seemed to be using the high-frequency connection to maintain the integrity of the badBIOS infection as he worked to dismantle software components the malware relied on."

This is a badass malware if real (and i think it's possible)! This is the future of hax ! We are going to have a badass malware in our crpg server and , as human being , he's going to delete all archery chars!! awesome.

[CrazyCracka420]

Yeah I agree with your points benkei.  Pretty sure the only way you could "communicate" with another computer, would be if it was listening for a signal and knew how to decode it.  So only between two already infected computers.  But the thing is, if it's hacking the bios it might be able to somehow set those devices to listen even if you reinstall the OS.  But yeah, don't see how it would be able to infect a computer using audio signals, and they would need some good transmitters and receivers. 

Either way, it's freaking crazy, and very next level thinking.

[Kafein]

Already infected hardware can communicate with each other using very high frequency sounds, so as to be undetectable by humans, and apparently security people have been able to do that for a long time. Doesn't seem that weird to me.

[cmp]

A computer is not listening to high frequency sounds and executing code in them, unless it has been already infected and told to do so by a virus. Two infected computers can talk between themselves without being networked (hypotetically)? Big fucking deal, you still need to infect them first.
The article is still bullshit, by the way.

[Christo]

Interesting

[Molly]

A computer is not listening to high frequency sounds and executing code in them, unless it has been already infected and told to do so by a virus. Two infected computers can talk between themselves without being networked (hypotetically)? Big fucking deal, you still need to infect them first.
The article is still bullshit, by the way.

That's what I said

And I still doubt that sound communication thing. In a lab setup with proper and dedicated hardware... Maybe. With the standard Apple products... No way.

I won't believe it until I see that. And a transmission distance of 10 cm doesn't count... That would barely be proof of concept.

[EponiCo]

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/september/wired-microbes-electricity-091613.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/symphonic-sewage-waste-treatment-plant-plays-mozart-to-microbes-a-698040.html