Cybersecurity News: Hackers Could Soon Find Out Your Passwords Through Listening

Hackers could soon get your valuable information, such as passwords and PIN codes, just by listening as you type, a recent study done by Cambridge University and Sweden's Linkoping University showed.

"When a user taps the screen with a finger, the tap generates a sound wave that propagates on the screen surface and in the air. We found the device's microphones can recover this wave and 'hear' the finger's touch, and the wave's distortions are characteristics of the tap's location on the screen," the study said in its introduction. "Hence, by recording audio, a malicious app can infer text as the user enters it on their device"

The spying app could be installed by the victims themselves or a phone with the app preinstalled could be given to the victim. Often users do not mind when an app says that it needs to use their microphone, but in this case, that access to the microphone could be exactly what allows the hacker to steal that persons personal data.

The researchers suggest that smartphone manufacturers make it easier for users to know when their phone's microphone is on, in order to better guard against the attacks Another way was to download an app that could create false tapping sounds in order to throw off the hacker.

The study, written by Ilia Shumailov, Laurent Simon, Jeff Yan and Paul Anderson, has not yet been peer reviewed or officially published, but can be downloaded on a website for academic research that is maintained by Cornell University.

In regards to cybersecurity, it's generally difficult to get a virus on your smartphone, particularly if you have an Android. Google usually monitors its Google Play store in order to monitor malicious apps that could infect your phone. If you install apps outside of the Google Play, it could be an idea to download an antivirus app. A factory reset could also clear your phone of a virus.