Musical Hacks!

Music can be used to hack smartphones, computers and cars, a recent study has found.

19:28 17 March 2017

A new study has found that listening to music on various electronic devices can put you at risk of being hacked. Computer security scientists from the Universities of Michigan and South Carolina found that accelerometers – the motion-sensing chip that can be found in many electronic devices, could be hacked using sound waves.

 

In their research, the scientists were able to hack 75per cent of the 20 accelerometer chips they tested. They also found that devices, once hacked, can be manipulated and controlled remotely.

 

Kevin Fu – an author of the study from the University of Michigan, said: “It’s like the opera singer who hits the note to break a wine glass – only in our case, we can spell out words,” Fu said. “You can think of it as a musical virus.”