Post #1417969
2026-04-19 19:39 UTC
As a teenager I experimented with using speakers as microphones with my reel-to-reel tape recorder. While relatively useless for recording music, they were useful for other applications.
https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/woot17/woot17-paper-guri.pdf
"We introduce 'SPEAKE(a)R,' a new type
of espionage malware that can covertly turn the head-phones, earphones, or simple earbuds connected to a PC
into microphones when a standard microphone is not present, muted, taped, or turned off."
Replies (2)
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@eaterofsnacks@tilde.zone 2026-04-19 19:43
@elsemusic It's kind of fun using headphones that way. Though like you say, not exactly studio quality 😁
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@destinyhankerson@sunny.garden 2026-04-19 19:44
@elsemusic Wow, really interesting stuff! It could be concerning from a security perspective with the malware version. I think I might have played around with using computer speakers as a microphone when I was a kid, though I'm not sure. It's cool that you tested it out for yourself!