Intruders can trick your Google Home into obeying commands

AI assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant are mainstays in most smart homes. They can be found in a plethora of Amazon Echo and Google Home products ranging from sophisticated ones with LCD screens to simple miniature ones resembling a Bluetooth speaker. With just your voice, you can command them to do just about anything.

It offers us an unprecedented level of convenience, allowing technology to cover mundane tasks in order for us to focus on the more important things. Such gadgets’ prevalence in homes are growing exponentially and several researchers at the University of Michigan and UEC Tokyo say that this makes our homes more vulnerable to intruders.

According to a research paper that was published, the voice controlled devices that we entrust with unlocking our doors, purchasing items, toggling our light switches and garage doors, can be manipulated, easily. The most worrying part is, intruders don’t need high-tech computers to hack into the network to gain access. All they need are laser pointers!

Yes, you read that correctly. It is called LIGHT COMMANDS or Laser-Based Audio Injection on Voice-Controllable Systems – a real mouthful. All that’s needed is a laser pointer, laser driver, sound amplifier and a telephoto lens – all relatively affordable items that are available on Amazon. Once assembled, a laser beam is pointed at the microphone of the voice controlled device.

The microphone in voice controlled devices, pick up the sound in our voices then convert them into electrical signals that the device understands. But, besides sound, these microphones can also react to light as well. So, by modulating an electrical signal into the intensity of a light beam, attackers can trick voice controlled devices into obeying their own commands.

This is a startling revelation, and one that might convince many to use additional security protocols for their smart devices. Take a look here for the list of devices that LIGHT COMMANDS have been tested on.

If this article has you worried, there are additional security measures that you can employ to make it as difficult as possible for intruders to exploit your devices. Consult you user manual of manufacturer tech support for further details.

Sources:

LIGHT COMMANDS

Research Paper

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