<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" We all know you have to be careful what you download and what networks you connect to in order to make sure that malicious hackers can&amp;#039;t sneak into your computer and have their way with all your data. But even the most benign peripherals can be a point of weakness. Your wireless mouse or keyboard, for instance,\u00A0could be a way in for hackers.\u00A0 The news comes by way of researchers at the Internet of things security firm Bastille who tell Wired that wireless\u00A0mice and keyboards from at least seven different major companies are vulnerable to attacks they call &amp;quot;mousejacking&amp;quot; which is exactly what it sounds like.\u00A0 Hackers who would use the exploit would only need a $10-15 antenna and a few lines of code to make use of a whole slew of vulnerabilities that\u00A0ultimately let them slip in between a keyboard and the computer it&amp;#039;s attached to, injecting whatever keystrokes they like. The best and scariest use-case for a hack like this is\u00A0air-gapped computers. That is, computers that are disconnected from any network by literal, physical distance in order to make sure they stay secure. But while such computers are\u00A0disconnected from the internet, it&amp;#039;s easy to see how someone might still use a wireless mouse or keyboard on them.\u00A0 Fortunately, there are limitations to what a hacker could do. Not only does the hacker have to be within at least a few hundred yards of the target, but they also might not be able to do anything with their illicit access.\u00A0 From\u00A0Wired:\u00A0 Injecting keystrokes on a target computer, of course, isn&amp;#039;t in itself a full compromise of the machine. The hacker would only have the same privileges as the person using the computer and wouldn&amp;#039;t necessarily be able to type his or her passwords. [Security researcher]\u00A0Rouland argues that the attack could quickly be used to download malware and take full remote control of a PC. But the computer would have to already be unlocked, a caveat that would likely require the attacker to be able to see his or her target&amp;#039;s screen. You can protect yourself from the hack as easily as switching to a wired mouse and keyboard. But let&amp;#039;s not kid ourselves; neither you nor I are likely to be juicy enough targets for a such a directed hack.\u00A0 Still, the vulnerability of such a large number of devices (the researchers estimate the number as maybe as high as a billion) speaks to a general lack of care when it comes to beefing up security on mundane devices. After all, they&amp;#039;re only harmless until someone uses them against you.\u00A0 Source: Wired\u00A0 "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a19569/mousejacking-wireless-mouse-and-keyboard-hacks/>