Re: Wireless mouse basestation transmitting wired keystrokes ?

["Kelly Keeton" <kellyrkeeton () gmail com>]

I have never seen this happen I just hooked up a unknown microsoft
model and typed on my keyboard and there was no transmission from the
RF (i have equipment to watch this)

Unless in line I have never seen a OS that would take a keyboard imput
from PS2/USB and spit it back out to another device. Dont mean someone
could but unlikely.

On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 12:03 PM,  <krymson () gmail com> wrote:
> Chad, I was thinking the same thing. But after a while, I wonder...
>
>
> BASE ------> wireless mouse
>
> STATION ---> wireless keyboard (not present)
>
> -----------> wired keyboard
>
>
> I guess the question is whether the base station is smart enough to turn off the wireless transmit if no wireless 
> keyboard is present. Or whether wired keyboard inputs (key press -> system) is repeated on the wireless port (not 
> sure why it would need to be). But, while it doesn't make sense to me, I *could* envision that a simple, dumb base 
> station could do exactly as described. Few consumer products are vetted as well as we'd like to think!
>
>
> Sergio: If the person you talked to is still available, definitely ask him for his source for that info.
>
>
> Sounds like an excellent research opportunity.
>
>
>
> <- snip ->
>
> On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 04:24:26PM -0500, Sergio Castro wrote:
>
> > All sorts of electromagnetic emissions can be intercepted straight from
>
> > devices.
>
> > Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEMPEST
>
>
> While true, that doesn't really answer the question. The question was
>
> whether the base unit for a wireless mouse/keyboard combination would
>
> transmit keystrokes from a "wired" keyboard.
>
>
> The answer might be "it depends", but unless there's something actually
>
> wrong with the way the base unit's controlling software was designed,
>
> this probably doesn't actually happen. No reason for a wireless keyboard
>
> base unit to broadcast keystroke data occurs to me at all, other than
>
> design flaws. To be certain, however, I guess you'd have to use an RF
>
> receiver (assuming it's an RF wireless base unit) to capture any
>
> emissions and examine them for the presence of keystroke data.
>
>
> I tend to think it would be more likely that using a wireless keyboard
>
> might involve broadcast of (unencrypted) keystroke data, since wireless
>
> peripheral device manufacturers probably don't put nearly enough effort
>
> into making sure your system is secure. It is for this reason that,
>
> while I may use a wireless mouse with a system where I'll be entering
>
> passwords, I will *not* use a wireless keyboard with such a system at
>
> this time.
>
>
> >
>
>
> OP is below:
>
>
> > -----Mensaje original-----
>
> > De: listbounce (at) securityfocus (dot) com [email concealed] [mailto:listbounce (at) securityfocus (dot) com [email 
> > concealed]] En
>
> > nombre de cleo_str8 (at) hotmail (dot) com [email concealed]
>
> > Enviado el: Lunes, 26 de Mayo de 2008 03:25 p.m.
>
> > Para: security-basics (at) securityfocus (dot) com [email concealed]
>
> > Asunto: Wireless mouse basestation transmitting wired keystrokes ?
>
> >
>
> > I taked to a guy who were claiming that if you have a wireless mouse, with a
>
> > basestation that also is able to use a wireless keyboard. Then if a wired
>
> > keyboard is used instead, there is a risk for the basestation to transmit
>
> > the keystroke onto the wireless, as some kind of acknowledge to the
>
> > non-existing keyboard.
>
> >
>
> > I'm not sure this is the right list to ask this, but am very interested in a
>
> > answer to this claim. Does anybody know if this is true or false ?
>
> >
>
> > Thanks, Peter