This computer malware works in a scenario in which this trick can work requires several preparatory steps, the researchers wrote. Basically what it does is that the malware uses the computer fan to act as a transmitter, while the smartphone acts as a receiver. The researchers said the target machine with air gapped are first affected physically. The researchers cited the Stuxnet attack - when a USB drive was used to deploy malware that attacked machines in an Iranian nuclear site - as an example of how this could be achieved.
The smartphone is expected to be hacked before the attack that you can receive data via smartphone. Moreover, it must be within 24 feet of the target computer.
Then applies the computer the desired data is modulated and waves running emitted from the computer fan transmitted with acoustic sound, created by faster or slower. This information will be "heard" by the hacked smartphone, decoded and transmitted to the remote user.
The binary data modulated and transmitted through these audio signals to a microphone distance." "We show that the software can adjust the speed of the internal fan to control the acoustic signals emitted by a computer," the report says.
The process takes a long time as the fan can only transmit the data at a speed of 15 bits per minute.
Fansmitter malware has been successfully tested in a normal working environment with ambient background noise from an air conditioner, multiple workstations and other people.
