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Chrome Technology

New Chrome Extension Uses Sound To Share URLs Between Devices 77

Posted by samzenpus from the sound-of-malware dept.
itwbennett writes: Google Tone is an experimental feature that could be used to easily and instantly share browser pages, search results, videos and other pages among devices, according to Google Research. "The initial prototype used an efficient audio transmission scheme that sounded terrible, so we played it beyond the range of human hearing," researcher Alex Kauffmann and software engineer Boris Smus wrote in a post on the Google Research blog.
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New Chrome Extension Uses Sound To Share URLs Between Devices More

New Chrome Extension Uses Sound To Share URLs Between Devices

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  • Sounds Hackable (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pubwvj ( 1045960 ) on Wednesday May 20, 2015 @06:49PM (#49740683)

    Sounds like a way to hack a computer with audio. Even the isolated can be gotten.

    • Sounds like a way to hack a computer with audio. Even the isolated can be gotten.

      I have a vague recollection of reading about an acoustic attack to get around airgapping, but don't remember if it was theoretical at the time.

      In college a friend of mine implemented "TCP Over Voice" for a project in his operating systems course. Another friend who had perfect pitch sang a dollar sign to the computer...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hitmark ( 640295 )

        Best i recall was someone claimed their BIOS had been infected with something that would use speakers and mic to get around being airgapped from any net connection.

        Not sure if it was ever verified by any security experts or not.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Lennie ( 16154 )

          If you read on WIkipedia it says it wouldn't be impossible:

          "In December 2013 computer scientists Michael Hanspach and Michael Goetz released a paper to the Journal of Communication demonstrating the possibility of an acoustic mesh networking at a slow 20 bits per second using a set of speakers and microphones for ultrasonic communication in a fashion similar to BadBIOS's described abilities."

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B... [wikipedia.org]

      • I have a recollection of an article discussing hackers keylogging an airgapped PC by reading the EM signals generated by the keyboard impulses.

      • There's no way to initially cross an airgap with sound, you'd have to first infect the computer with the software needed to communicate with sound via some other means, and then you could use sound to establish a connection to a computer that's believed to be airgapped.

        If technology like this is included with an OS by default, and it doesn't require user action to allow data to be received and approved before taking any action with it (I'm looking at you, phones with NFC), that could change.

    • Users have to be logged into their Google account, and their profile names and photos are displayed alongside the URL in incoming Tone notifications.

      Its right there in the article....

  • OMG... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by qtp ( 461286 ) on Wednesday May 20, 2015 @06:57PM (#49740689) Journal

    They've invented the acoustic coupler!

    • Re:OMG... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by QuasiSteve ( 2042606 ) on Wednesday May 20, 2015 @07:11PM (#49740695)

      I think the word 'invented' gives too much credit as is.

      They merely released an app that does what others have done before;
      http://rnd.azoft.com/mobile-ap... [azoft.com]
      http://petapixel.com/2013/09/1... [petapixel.com]
      http://dspace.ucalgary.ca/bits... [ucalgary.ca]
      http://circlewithme.tumblr.com... [tumblr.com]

      But it's Google, so it gets eyeballs anew.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by serviscope_minor ( 664417 )

        I think the word 'invented' gives too much credit as is.

        The fact that he used the term "acoustic coupler" should indicate that he was referring to them having "invented" something which was actually invented in the early 1960s.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A... [wikipedia.org]

      • My Palm T3 does this with IR. But then, few phones/tablets have an IR receiver - even if they have an IR transmitter (which can be used for remote controlling TVs).

        • My ancient Windows Mobile one had IR - could receive/send, control TVs (learn remotes via some software aka 'app'), IR lighting, and even print to a printer with an IR port without any in-between server or AirPrint silliness.

          In some ways, smart phones have really gone technologically backwards for the sake of user experience claims. On the other hand.. accurate capacitive displays, accelerometers, built-in GPS.. I wouldn't go back, exactly :)

    • Ok, maybe repurposed [schlockmercenary.com] is a better way of saying it.

    • Re:OMG... (Score:5, Funny)

      by cdxta ( 1170917 ) on Wednesday May 20, 2015 @10:28PM (#49741221)
      Here is what it sounds like when the plugin establishes a connection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    • If I want to send you a link to a webpage, then it is safe to assume that we're both connected to the internet. So why not send the link that way?

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by wonkey_monkey ( 2592601 )

        Let me send you this link on Skype. Oh wait, you don't have Skype. No, I don't have WhatsApp. Facebook? No. Okay, I'll email it to you. Wait, what's your address? Okay, I'll just type that in. Damn you, autocorrect! Okay, sent.

        Not got it yet? Did you check your spam folder? Okay, there you go. Haha, what a funny kitty. Totally worth all that screwing around working out how to send the link to you when we could have just each pressed one or two buttons in Chrome*.

        ~~~

        That's not to say that Google Chrome isn't

        • Let me send you this link on Skype. Oh wait, you don't have Skype. No, I don't have WhatsApp. Facebook? No. Okay, I'll email it to you.

          So, you're saying the problem is that there are currently too many messaging apps, and no agreed upon standard? And the solution to that problem is to create yet another messaging app?

          As for communicating with someone who is nearby without having to type an email address or user name: Apps like Bump have been around for years. Oh wait, you don't have bump? No I don't have Google Tone. How about OkCupid?

          • So, you're saying the problem is that there are currently too many messaging apps, and no agreed upon standard?

            I'm saying it's a problem, sometimes, but nothing that keeps me awake at night.

            And the solution to that problem is to create yet another messaging app?

            It's not a messaging app. There's no login, no authentication, no friend requests. It's for sharing generic data, not authenticated messages, with someone in your physical vicinity. It fulfils a pretty different purpose which, when attempted over the various messaging channels out there, leads to issues such as I outlined.

            As a Chrome extension, or even integrated into Chrome, I'm not sure it'll make many waves, and possibly more

          • So, you're saying the problem is that there are currently too many messaging apps, and no agreed upon standard? And the solution to that problem is to create yet another messaging app?

            Well technically there is one agreed upon standard: XMPP/Jabber.

            But beside Google (who - although helped pushing it forward back then - would rather like that you forgot they support it) and Facebook (who was more or less forced to slap a gateway as an after though to their proprietary system and would like to discontinue it and force you to install their app) no other big major player use it.

            Still, it's very popular among lots of small-scale services (which are usually federated among them), and also popul

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by DrYak ( 748999 )

              And WhatsApp is very active at trying to shut un authorized users out

              Sorry, I meant:
              un-authorized implementations

        • I'm picturing someone using this in a lecture hall where they can have the room's sound system broadcast the tones.

  • "we played it beyond the range of human hearing" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Nutria ( 679911 ) on Wednesday May 20, 2015 @07:13PM (#49740703)

    And dogs? Heck, cats hear even higher pitches.

    • So it not only transmits URLs, it also annoys the nearby dogs and cats. I'm not seeing a downside here.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Nutria ( 679911 )

        Annoying your wife/GF's pet annoys her. Annoying her puts you in the -- no pun intended -- doghouse.

        Thus, don't annoy your wife/GF's pet.

  • Goatse, now in tone (Score:5, Funny)

    by goombah99 ( 560566 ) on Wednesday May 20, 2015 @07:15PM (#49740707)

    I'm going to create a goatse tone-code emitter and leave it running on the library computer.

    it used to be on the internet no one could tell if you are a dog. now they will know.

  • What about the dogs? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Bruce66423 ( 1678196 ) on Wednesday May 20, 2015 @07:23PM (#49740713)
    Given they've got hearing at a higher frequency, the operating frequency will have to be VERY high to avoid upsetting our best friends...

  • three words (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MrKaos ( 858439 ) on Wednesday May 20, 2015 @07:24PM (#49740715) Journal
    air gap exploit

  • ham radio digi modes (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Just use MT63 or maybe PSKR. There's tons of "open" modes and modems that have forward error correction. I routinely use MT63-2000 to send text too big to fit in a QR code.

  • Remember when there were rumors of BadBIOS circulation which used this exact technique to span airgaps?
  • So we could spread viruses worms and browser helper objects from internet connected network to the safe air gapped internal networks. And, since these internal networks assume they are safe, they are much less lax in security. Good! Great help you are Google for the malware developers.

  • Android/ChromeCast already uses ultrasonic (Score:4, Interesting)

    by BoogieChile ( 517082 ) on Wednesday May 20, 2015 @09:30PM (#49741025)

    To send data to a nearby chromecast without needing to connect to the network that the ChromeCast is on, an Android device will link to the ChromeCast with an ultrasonic signal.

  • How does this deal with loud interrupting noises? Classrooms or offices tend to have bursts of loud noises (dropped items, phones ringing, etc.), is there any way it can figure out lost information?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by u38cg ( 607297 )
      Presumably if it works on a narrow frequency band it only has to listen on that frequency, so extraneous noise won't be an issue. And I imagine they will have remembered to include error correction.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dave420 ( 699308 )
      It works really well with Chromecasts so far, so I guess they have thought this through quite a bit.
  • great! now the best way to have even more computer on a botnet! just make an ad with sound that will send people on a compromised website to send malware to anyone with the app!

  • "beyond the range of human hearing"
    Great, now you're going to piss off my dog, too? Thanks Google!

  • We had to get up and change the channel when I was a teenager. But my best friend didn't they could afford a new-fangled clicker tv. I swear this is true, one day I smoked up, got creative and learned to imitate the clicker sound perfectly and change the channel. I got so good at it when we did the keep up with the Jones' routine that I drove my parents nuts to the point of distraction by throwing the sound and changing the channel on the Electrohome or turning it on or off but that one was really tricky to

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by BennyX ( 4069527 )
      I have actually read about this.. it was way before my time,though. One of the first remote-based devices for TV's was entirely mechanical and based on higher-than-human hearing sound. You'd press a button on the remote, a knocker would hit one of several 'bells' (probably tuning forks?) and the TV would 'hear' this sound and change the channel. Apparently it wasn't quite silent, and it did annoy pets.

  • Just wait until advertisers start adding these to their radio and streaming ads. Also - I'm changing my phone's notification sound right now :D

  • http://chirp.io/ [chirp.io] and, as previous poster remarked, acoustic coupler. This is a pretty bad idea, generally.
  • Digital Convergence, the company that brought us our beloved ::Cue::Cats, also had a technology that could capture an audio-encoded link from your computer's microphone port.

    Man I miss the oughts... I lived in a house back then...

    • I was going to essentially say this earlier but /. was having problems and wouldn't let me log in. Cue Cat redux.

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