Quote:Super-secure air-gapped computers are vulnerable to a new type of attack that can turn a PC’s memory module into a modified Wi-Fi radio, which can then transmit sensitive data at 100 bits-per-second wirelessly to nearly six feet away.
 
Noted air-gap researcher Mordechai Guri created the proof-of-concept (PoC) attack and described it in a research paper released earlier this month under the auspices of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel’s cybersecurity research center.
 
“Malware in a compromised air-gapped computer can generate signals in the Wi-Fi frequency bands. The signals are generated through the memory buses — no special hardware is required,” Guri wrote (PDF).
 
In his proof-of-concept attack, Guri showed how an adversary could manipulate the electrical current on a system’s DDR SDRAM bus in order to generate electromagnetic waves and transmit a weak Wi-Fi signal (2,400 GHz). It’s not a quick attack though: At a top speed of 100 bps, it would take 22 hours and 13 minutes to send 1MB of data to a receiving device no more than 69 inches away.
 
“Since the clock speed of memory modules is typically around the frequency of 2.4 GHz or its harmonics, the memory operations generate electromagnetic emissions around the IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi frequency bands,” Guri wrote.
 
The hack requires perfectly timed read-write operations, which would be driven by malware installed on the targeted computer. The principle behind this type of attack is, electronic components generate electromagnetic waves. Similarly, radio frequency transmitters, such as routers, are also based on a type of electromagnetic radiation. Ergo what Guri  calls his AIR-FI hack, based on electromagnetic manipulation.