Until now, most people thought this was an ultra-secure way to operate. Whether or not a virus is found this time, it raises the disturbing prospect of audio controlling malware between “air-gapped” computers – those with no electronic or wireless connections. “This is all conjecture until forensic analysis finds something,” he admits. No malicious code has so far been found on Ruiu’s “infected” machines. If Ruiu is right, it means that malware, which he has called “badBIOS”, has somehow been installed in one of his computer’s chips, only to lie dormant until an audio signal wakes it up.
“And we ran them on batteries so they were not receiving anything though the power lines.” Mind the gap “We have recorded high-frequency audio signals between our computers and have seen the computers mysteriously change their configuration even when they don’t have network connections, Wi-Fi cards or Bluetooth cards,” Ruiu told New Scientist. He also found that the ultrasound broadcasts ceased when the receiving computer’s microphone was disabled. Instead, his tests showed it was probably being caused by interference from ultrasonic audio being transmitted between the loudspeakers and microphones of nearby computers. The row started on 15 October when Ruiu posted on his Google+ page that a high-pitched whine in his home sound system was not, as he’d suspected, being caused by electrical noise from his home wiring. Although Ruiu’s claim remains unproven, others say that audio-based malware is a very real possibility. Some doubt this sonic “backdoor” can be genuine – no one has yet tracked down computer code that can generate the audio.
The incredible claims made by Ruiu, a respected computer security researcher from Vancouver, Canada, have sparked a row in the world of cyber security. He now believes that hidden viruses on his machines are being controlled via ultrasound signals broadcast from one infected computer to another. In the three years since, Ruiu’s computers have continued to do strange things – even when unplugged and with the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched off. Unasked, his laptop also started to update its BIOS – which boots up the OS and choreographs use of disc drives and memory. Look who’s talking now: air gap? what air gap…ĭragos Ruiu first became suspicious when he was installing a new version of Apple’s OS X onto his MacBook.
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