Geekcon 2010: Data over TEMPEST

This is a demonstration of our (Maayan, Yoav and Shahar) project at GeekCon 2010, transmitting data between computers using nothing special but a common household AM radio (not a transmitter) connected to the receiving end.

How it works - short description:
In the project we transmit data from one computer to the other using the electromagnetic emissions of the first computer's screen.
At the sender we use the computer screen as an antenna (displaying patterns that generate specific EM emissions) and at the receiving end we use an household AM radio connected to the audio card.


How it works - long description:
You know how when you turn on the lights there is sometimes a boom noise coming out of the speakers? Every electronic equipment emits electromagnetic emissions since it works with electricity.
When receiving these emissions, it is possible in theory to recreate the operation of that device. This practice it called TEMPEST or Van Eck phreaking.
Our project creates patterns on the sender's screen that create specific electromagnetic emissions.
We receive these emissions on the other computer using the radio, connected to its microphone socket. We then do much audio/signals processing to extract the message (remember that the room was filled with geeks and their computers). As a basis for the sending part we used Tempest for Eliza (http://www.erikyyy.de/tempest/).

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Tags:

• tempest
• van
• eck
• phreaking
• geekcon