We spy, with our bleary eye, a brand new piece of software which may make it dramatically easier to steal personal data. This system, referred to as iSpy, allows devious voyeurs to remotely identify and browse text typed on touchscreen displays. That, in and of itself, isn’t exactly new , but iSpy takes shoulder surfing to slightly terrifying new areas — namely, those beyond the “shoulder.” Developed by Jan-Michael Frahm and Fabian Monrose of the UNC-Chapel Hill, this program, like those before it, takes good thing about the magnified keys found on most touchscreens. All you’d need to do is point a camera at someone else’s screen and iSpy will automatically record whatever she or he types by stabilizing the video footage and identifying the enlarged keys. In case you are using a smartphone camera, you will eavesdrop from as much as three meters away, but when you choose for a more heavy duty DSLR device, you may steal passwords from as much as 60 meters away. The software may also recognize any words typed right into a device, and, in accordance with its architects, can identify letters with more than 90 percent accuracy. When used with a DSLR camera, iSpy will also pick up on reflections of touchscreens in sunglasses or window panes from as much as 12 meters away. To circumvent this, Frahm and Monrose recommend disabling the magnified key function to your smartphone, or using some kind of screen shield. We endorse sorting out a video of this system, after the break.
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