GCRI Associate Director Dr. Nitesh Saxena along with his student Ahmed Tanvir Mahdad received significant media coverage on their publication and research, EarSpy: Spying Caller Speech and Identity through Tiny Vibrations of Smartphone Ear Speakers.
Advanced smartphone features attract users who want more from their devices, especially in health and entertainment areas, but do these features create a security risk when making or receiving actual calls? A team of academic researchers from Texas A&M University and four other institutions created malicious software, or malware, to answer that question.
The researchers’ malware, called EarSpy, used machine learning algorithms to filter a surprising amount of caller information from ear speaker vibration data recorded by an Android smartphone’s own motion sensors—and did so without overcoming any safeguards or needing user permissions.
Mahdad was the primary author of the paper published in December 2022 that explained the project’s results. The National Science Foundation funded the research.
Original Story by the College of Engineering