
Hackers who took control of PC microphones siphon &gt;600 GB from 70 targets - pizza
https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/02/hackers-who-took-control-of-pc-microphones-siphon-600-gb-from-70-targets/
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squarefoot
From a comment on the linked page:

"justcauseisjustthat wrote: I'm surprised how little they got but then no one
is probably looking at the corporate phones on desks. Cisco, Avaya, ShoreTel
etc are all vulnerable to be used as bugs to tap offices remotely."

Bugging corporate appliances is easy as well if done by design. A WiFi
repeater box plugged in the conference room wall could have a miniscule MEMS
microphone and audio preamp wired to a ADC port on the main microcontroller
(assuming it's too small to have an audio input), so that it can listen and
relay elsewhere when instructed to. And let's not forget about networked
printers or even the coffee machine if connected. At an old company I worked
with, many decisions of vital importance were taken while drinking coffee on
the armchairs around the machine.

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cpncrunch
Why is Word document phishing even possible in this day and age? Doesn't
Windows 7 and above protect against this? Or do users just automatically click
YES when Windows asks if it's ok for a program to make changes to the system?

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234dd57d2c8dba
Windows constantly bombards you with elevation prompts, dialog boxes, etc. A
large number of people literally do not care at all what the box says they
just want it to go away so they can do the thing they were trying to do with
their spreadsheet bob from accounting sent over so they can go home to see
their kids at 6pm.

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flukus
If only there was an technique to elevate privileges that wasn't so frequent
and required a password input.

~~~
cpncrunch
I assume you mean macOS, which does seem to work in a somewhat more sensible
way.

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anotheryou
gb of opus or wave?

