Originally posted by -SpectraL
On Covert Acoustical Mesh Networks in Air
Michael Hanspach, Michael Goetz (Submitted on 4 Jun 2014)
Cryptography and Security (cs.CR); Networking and Internet Architecture (cs.NI); Sound (cs.SD) Journal reference: Journal of Communications 8(11), Nov. 2013
"Covert channels can be used to circumvent system and network policies by establishing communications that have not been considered in the design of the computing system. We construct a covert channel between different computing systems that utilizes audio modulation/demodulation to exchange data between the computing systems over the air medium. The underlying network stack is based on a communication system that was originally designed for robust underwater communication. We adapt the communication system to implement covert and stealthy communications by utilizing the ultrasonic frequency range. We further demonstrate how the scenario of covert acoustical communication over the air medium can be extended to multi-hop communications and even to wireless mesh networks. A covert acoustical mesh network can be conceived as a meshed botnet or malnet that is accessible via inaudible audio transmissions. Different applications of covert acoustical mesh networks are presented, including the use for remote keylogging over multiple hops. It is shown that the concept of a covert acoustical mesh network renders many conventional security concepts useless, as acoustical communications are usually not considered. Finally, countermeasures against covert acoustical mesh networks are discussed, including the use of lowpass enhancementing in computing systems and a host-based intrusion detection system for analyzing audio input and output in order to detect any irregularities."
Lol, some dude builds a gimmick "acoustic" network as a weekend project and wants to get a paper out of it. It would be a simple system to build with basic OS and acoustic concepts, no one does because it serves no purpose, physically or economically.
