New research by PWC UK shows that the capability of many commercial speakers to emit frequencies outside the range of human hearing can enable hackers to turn these devices into acoustic weapons that produce inaudible sound or audible noise at high intensity.
The study found that it is relatively simple to write malware that can make speakers in different types of consumer electronics carry out such acoustic attacks. The attacks were not tested on humans, as they could potentially cause serious physical and psychological harm. The researchers warn that they “were only scratching the surface” and that “acoustic cyber-weapon attacks could potentially be done at a much larger scale using something like sound systems at arenas or commercial PA systems in office buildings.”
Read more: Hackers Can Turn Everyday Speakers Into Acoustic Cyberweapons
