Apple's "Find My" location network can be abused by malicious actors to stealthily transmit sensitive information captured by keyloggers installed in keyboards.
This is another example of very specific situations in INFOSEC. It’s unlikely that you will become a victim to this key logger attack. And of course the title suggests that Apple’s Find My network is compromised. This is not the case. But it is being utilized, in this instance, against Apple’s rules and regulations.
The real hack here is that the victim had their keyboard modified or was given a compromised keyboard that broadcasts Bluetooth signals, that are then picked up on the Find My network. It could be transmitted via Cellular, Bluetooth, WiFi, audible sound, monitoring energy differentials, etc. It’s the HMI hardware that’s been compromised. Apple will likely develop updates to their Find My network, but the compromised keyboard could then be modified to use some other service or broadcast methods. Apple fixing the Find My network to recognize bad actors will not prevent this style of attack.
I think the main concern is how easy and ubiquitous it is, while also being pretty hard to detect. No other transmission method lends itself so perfectly to this kind of attack.
And I wouldn’t say it’s that unlikely. Every publicly accessible keyboard could be targeted, like in schools or universities. Buy an identical model to those that are used in the computer room, modify it, switch it out, and wait for people to enter their emails and passwords.
The potential to abuse Find My to transmit arbitrary data besides just device location was first discovered by Positive Security researchers Fabian Bräunlein and his team over two years ago, but apparently, Apple addressed this problem.
Not with Apple’s network anymore apparently. But if you read the original PoC from 2021 they said Amazon’s Echo devices have the same potential.
Ultimately, even the researchers have indicated the slow and unreliable nature of the attack (which now no longer works).
Small complication: public key validity. Having implemented both the sending and receiving side, I performed a first test by broadcasting and trying to receive a 32 bit value. After a few minutes, I could retrieve 23 out of the 32 bits, each one being unambiguous and with ~100 location reports, but no reports for the remaining 9 bits.
I just watched a video by a German tech magazine the other day, with Fabian Bräunlein (the original researcher) demonstrating a keylogger using the Find My network. It’s only 3 days old, so I don’t think the main problem is fixed at all.
This is another example of very specific situations in INFOSEC. It’s unlikely that you will become a victim to this key logger attack. And of course the title suggests that Apple’s Find My network is compromised. This is not the case. But it is being utilized, in this instance, against Apple’s rules and regulations.
The real hack here is that the victim had their keyboard modified or was given a compromised keyboard that broadcasts Bluetooth signals, that are then picked up on the Find My network. It could be transmitted via Cellular, Bluetooth, WiFi, audible sound, monitoring energy differentials, etc. It’s the HMI hardware that’s been compromised. Apple will likely develop updates to their Find My network, but the compromised keyboard could then be modified to use some other service or broadcast methods. Apple fixing the Find My network to recognize bad actors will not prevent this style of attack.
I think the main concern is how easy and ubiquitous it is, while also being pretty hard to detect. No other transmission method lends itself so perfectly to this kind of attack.
And I wouldn’t say it’s that unlikely. Every publicly accessible keyboard could be targeted, like in schools or universities. Buy an identical model to those that are used in the computer room, modify it, switch it out, and wait for people to enter their emails and passwords.
Not with Apple’s network anymore apparently. But if you read the original PoC from 2021 they said Amazon’s Echo devices have the same potential.
Ultimately, even the researchers have indicated the slow and unreliable nature of the attack (which now no longer works).
I just watched a video by a German tech magazine the other day, with Fabian Bräunlein (the original researcher) demonstrating a keylogger using the Find My network. It’s only 3 days old, so I don’t think the main problem is fixed at all.
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