Siri and Alexa can be turned against you by ultrasound whispers
Attorneys using voice recognition AI, like Siri and Alexa, should keep up-to-date about the benefits and the risks of this often very useful technology. A team of researchers at Zhejiang University, in China, have successfully interacted with Siri and Alexa at frequencies of sound higher than what humans are able to hear. Using these frequencies to interact with the voice assistants, the team was able to successfully make phone calls, post on social media, and perform a litany of additional tasks without the account holder knowing.
This article explains how the voice assistants were activated and describes what a potentially malicious user might be able to do once gaining access to the virtual assistant.
Follow the link above to learn more, or read the journal article directly at https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.09537.
From the article:
“The attack works by converting the usual wake-up commands – “OK Google” or “Hey Siri” – into high-pitch analogues. When a voice assistant hears these sounds, they still recognise them as legitimate commands, even though they are imperceptible to the human ear.
The team was then able to open a malicious website to download malware and start a video or voice call to spy on its surroundings. Additionally, they could send text messages and publish posts online.”
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