? Android phones can be listened to using motion sensors

A group of scientists from five American universities has developed a side-channel EarSpy attack, with which you can listen to Android devices: recognize the gender and identity of the caller, as well as partially disassemble the contents of the conversation. Wiretapping is proposed to be carried out using motion sensors that are able to detect the reverberation of the speakers of mobile devices.

In their experiments, the researchers used OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 9 devices, as well as various sets of pre-recorded sounds. Also, the Physics Toolbox Sensor Suite application was used to collect accelerometer readings during a simulated call, and then they were transmitted to MATLAB for analysis.

After learning the machine learning algorithm, the accuracy of determining the gender of the caller on the OnePlus 7T ranged from 77.7% to 98.7%, the classification of the caller ID ranged from 63.0% to 91.2%, and speech recognition was possible with an accuracy of 51.8% to 56.4%. This proves that wiretapping through motion sensors is possible.

The volume that users choose for the speakers of their devices can reduce the effectiveness of the EarSpy attack. The smaller it is, the higher the chances of successful wiretapping. Environmental noises and vibrations can also help protect against it.