It turns out that even something as seemingly benign as your mouse can
put your personal information at risk. That’s according to a report by security
firm, Bastille, which says that hackers could in theory take control of your
computer through its wireless peripherals.
The hack, which the company calls Mouse Jack,
affects nearly every wireless mouse and keyboard on the market and could give a
hacker complete access to your personal computer or to the network at your
office.
The hack isn’t exactly sophisticated either.
According to Bastille, all a would-be hacker needs is about $15 worth of
computer hardware, which he could then use to send commands from his computer
to yours.
The hack works because while your wireless
keyboard sends information in encrypted form to your computer’s wireless dongle
(so hackers can’t see what you’re typing), your mouse doesn’t.
As a result, hackers can send signals
designed to perform keyboard commands to your dongle. Those signals can then be
used to hijack your system.
“Wireless mice and keyboards are the most
common accessories for PCs today, and we have found a way to take over billions
of them,” said Marc Newlin, Bastille’s engineer responsible for the Mouse Jack
discovery, in a statement.
So how to protect yourself? Well, some
wireless mouse and keyboard manufacturers developed their devices so they can
be patched via firmware updates. Other companies’ offerings, however, can’t be
updated and will simply have to be replaced.
Yahoo
Tech