The Little Seal Bug: Optical Sound Recovery from Lightweight Reflective Objects

In this talk we will introduce "the little seal bug" attack, an optical side-channel attack used to recover sound from lightweight reflective objects; such objects are commonly seen in home offices, which became a primary work setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will show how fluctuations in the air pressure on the surface of a shiny object can be exploited by eavesdroppers to recover speech passively and externally, using equipment not likely to be associated with spying.

By: Ben Nassi, …

bug little seal recovery sound