Keyboard Lights As An Airgap Attack Vector

A security researcher has demonstrated a creative way around air-gap isolation. Nikolay Valentinovich Repnitskiy took two Dell SK-8115 keyboards and modified one by soldering photoresistors to its matrix pins. He then aligned those photoresistors with the Num Lock and Caps Lock LEDs from the other keyboard. The result: a one-way data channel where one computer can transmit information by flashing its keyboard lights, which the photoresistors detect as keystrokes on the isolated machine. According to Hackaday, this can transmit executable programs to further compromise an air-gapped system. It's an ingenious solution to a classic security challenge.

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