INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Security researchers are arguing that passwords represent an increasingly wobbly method of verification, following the discovery of an
exploit that can potentially discern a password using the thermal energy residue left on recently pressed keys.As spotted by Bleeping
Computer, computer scientists from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), have named the attack Thermanator, and it involves the usage
trivial exploit to pull off
later crunch this data and engage in a dictionary attack (repeatedly trying combinations) to brute force the login in question.The
two finger) typists were more vulnerable to this exploit, as the thermal traces they left when typing were stronger.So is this a good reason
to learn to touch type Well, in all honesty, the odds of you being hit by this sort of attack in a real-world situation are vanishingly
thing could happen in the near future
Impossible' towards reality
concerned, one mitigation technique the researchers offer up is simply to run your hands across the keyboard after a password entry in a
other potential vulnerabilities here aside from laptop or PC keyboards, and thermal imaging tricks could be used to try and discover PIN
numbers at ATMs, for example.Furthermore, there are a range of other exploits to determine key presses and work out passwords, too, such as
using the physical vibrations made by tapping the keys
Going forward, the researchers argue that traditional passwords need to be consigned to the dustbin, in favor of more secure methods of
authentication like biometric.ksw4Sgnf8Ab5PTgFzy2Q5X.jpg#
