Laptops accused of “spying” for the owners

HP laptops in 2015 recorded all keystrokes users: there were passwords and card numbers

The audio driver that is installed on some models of laptops HP (Hewlett Packard) contained the Keylogger script that records every keystroke by the user.

Received data is then saved in an unencrypted file on your hard disk. Thus, any attacker who knew where to look, would get access to data like logins, passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive information. About the situation first reported by the Swiss research company Modzero, writes ain.ua.

As noted, the Keylogger contained in audiocpu Conexant driver version 1.0.0.46 and older. It is installed on dozens of models of HP laptops, including the Elitebook, Probook, and ZBook. The full list is available here.

After a problem is detected, employees Modzero contacted Conexant and HP for 10 days before publication of his research. As ZDNet writes, the notebook vendor has already released the necessary patches to remove the Keylogger and the log file, which contained data about the input. When you search for drivers on some of the problematic models, edition really ain managed to find the updates for may 11.

Vice-President of HP’s Mike Nash said that fixed drivers are available through Windows update and the official website of the manufacturer HP.com for models released in 2016. For older laptops the updates should be release on Friday, may 12. As said Nash, a function of Keylogger was added by accident in the final driver code was not supposed to get on users ‘ computers.

To see whether the vulnerability of the laptop, is to look at the list of devices on which you install the Conexant audio chip. You can also verify the files C:WindowsSystem32MicTray.exe or C:WindowsSystem32MicTray64.exe. This is also another reason to go to the laptop manufacturer’s website and verify whether the actual device driver. According to Modzero, other vendors that also uses Conexant chips may have the same problem.

Earlier, Israeli researchers were able to turn the headphones connected to the laptop in the listening device. This was possible thanks to a little-known capabilities of the chips of RealTek reassign an outbound channel is in incoming. This allows the program to record audio even when headphones are plugged into the connector only with the outgoing channel.

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