Bastille Finds Wireless Keyboards A Security Risk
American cybersecurity firm Bastille claims that most wireless keyboards are able to be listened in on with minimal effort.
The company says that data transmitted by approximately two-thirds of wireless keyboards is unencrpyted and able to be intercepted by hackers from up to 250 feet away.
To make matters worse, they advised that this vulnerability is hardware-based and unable to be addressed by a security patch.
According to researcher Marc Newlin, signals could be isolated and surveilled even if busy office environments using something as cheap as low tech as a USB-powered antenna.
They identified a number of manufacturers whose keyboards were found to be vulnerable, including Anker, EagleTec, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Insignia, Kensington, Radio Shack and Toshiba.
On the other side of things, the company highlighted Logitech, Lenovo and Dell’s wireless keyboards as markedly more secure.
They advised users stick with Bluetooth-connected or strictly wired keyboards to minimise their risk.