Researchers who last year hacked popular voice assistants with laser pointers take their work to the next level. It's still a mystery to researchers at the University of Michigan and The University of Electro-Communications (Tokyo) – just what physically enabled them to inject commands into the embedded microphones of Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and other digital voice assistant devices via laser pointers. The team in 2019 used light to remotely control Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Facebook Portal, and Apple Siri by exploiting a vulnerability in their so-called MEMS microphones. They used the light beams to inject invisible and inaudible commands to the digital voice assistants as well as voice-controlled smartphones and tablets – through glass windows as far away as 110 meters (120 yards). [...] They are now studying the security of sensing systems overall as well, including those found in medical devices, autonomous vehicles, industrial systems – and even space systems. Cyr, Rampazzi, an assistant professor at the University of Florida, and Daniel Genkin, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, plan to show at Black Hat Europe how a security camera could be manipulated via a hijacked voice assistant with which it interfaces. They'll be demonstrating their light-injection hack against the Amazon Echo 3, a newer model of the smart speaker system that was not available last year when they first tested Echo, Siri, Facebook Portal, and Google Home. Cyr says they haven't had the opportunity yet to test the fourth-generation Echo speaker. [...] At the heart of the research is the broader problem of an explosion of Internet of Things devices on the market that were not built with security in mind. [...] "You shoot it to the acoustic part of the mike that then gets converted into an acoustic signal. So the voltage signal looks exactly the same is if it's being done by an acoustic signal," Cyr says. This allows them to issue commands to voice-enabled devices, such as garage door openers, smart locks, and home security system cameras. Continua su https://www.darkreading.com/risk/alexa-disarm-the-victims-home-security-syst... Giacomo