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Researchers from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev published a paper this week outlining a new side-channel attack against cryptographic computations. The researchers were able to successfully recover cryptographic keys by simply recording power LEDs through commercial video cameras of varying types.

The six-person team, led by Ben Nassi, discovered that it is possible to recover secret keys from a device due to fluctuations in power draw. In short, these fluctuations are represented in the power LED through minor color and brightness changes. In demonstrations, they found that this could be used to recover a 256-bit ECDSA key from a smart card as well as a 378-bit SIKE key from a Samsung Galaxy S8 by watching the power LED of Logitech Z120 USB speakers connected to the same USB hub as the Galaxy S8.

If you are interested, the full report covers the attack breakdown, including the complex algorithms and methods the research team used to accomplish the attack. Aside from that, there is a low chance that this attack will be used against you, so there is nothing really to worry about.

However, it is pretty cool to think about, and you can let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Researchers Demo Alarming Exploit That Steals Encryption Keys By Recording Power LEDs - Hot Hardware