Samy Kamkar: Optical Spying — Eavesdropping on Keystrokes with Lasers
A DEF CON 32 talk where well-known security researcher Samy Kamkar demonstrates techniques of physical and optical espionage.
The talk explains how different forms of energy — light, sound, radio waves, and vibrations — can unintentionally leak from systems and be used to extract information, even from air-gapped devices.
He shows how lasers and optical sensors can capture tiny vibrations in window glass and reconstruct keystrokes from inside a room. The presentation also covers historical side-channel and TEMPEST-style attacks, along with the physical principles behind signal leakage and environmental intelligence gathering.
The talk explains how different forms of energy — light, sound, radio waves, and vibrations — can unintentionally leak from systems and be used to extract information, even from air-gapped devices.
He shows how lasers and optical sensors can capture tiny vibrations in window glass and reconstruct keystrokes from inside a room. The presentation also covers historical side-channel and TEMPEST-style attacks, along with the physical principles behind signal leakage and environmental intelligence gathering.