A recent study conducted by cyber experts in the UK shows that Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses a direct threat to our online security. “With recent developments in deep learning, the ubiquity of microphones and the rise in online services via personal devices, acoustic side channel attacks present a greater threat to keyboards than ever” the paper reads.

Specifically, AI’s ability to capture passwords and keystrokes. Just The News reports:

The researchers found that by exploiting certain ‘leaks,’ AI-driven attacks stole passwords with up to a 95 percent accuracy. Specifically, as the cyber experts note, when “trained on keystrokes recorded by a nearby phone, the classifier achieved an accuracy of 95%, the highest accuracy seen without the use of a language model.” “When trained on keystrokes recorded using the video-conferencing software Zoom, an accuracy of 93% was achieved, a new best for the medium,” they added. Over Skype, the model had a 91.7 percent accuracy. In other words, AI succeeded by listening in on what users typed on their keyboards.

According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll  61 percent of Americans worry AI can actually “threaten civilization” and over two-thirds worry about all negative effects.

Senior lecturer in information security at Royal Holloway University of London and one of the authors of the paper, Dr. Maryam Mehrnezhad, told JustTheNews that “side-channel”attacks, which are becoming more prevalent, “happen when the attacker uses extra (side channel) information (e.g., sound, processing time, motion sensors) to obtain a secret piece of information such as a PIN or password.”

One of the more worrying aspects, she added, is “how feasible and accurate acoustic side-channel attacks can be without physical access to the victim’s laptop and via recording the keystroke sounds from a distance or even during a Zoom call.”

Answering the question as to how we can protect ourselves, Mehmezhad responded, “We provide a range of mitigation methods in the paper such as being vigilant about your surroundings and video/voice connections when dealing with sensitive information such as PINs and passwords. It is always good to follow general security and privacy advice such as choosing strong passwords and not opening random links.”