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Well, anew reporthas revealed that this one-time daydream may have turned into a real-life Orwellian nightmare for some.
He believes criminals and, even more so, intelligence agencies have likely exploited these vulnerabilities to their advantage.
So, it’s more than plausible these intelligence organizations are already scooping up what these folks are typing.
Which brands and keystroke apps are affected?
“Interestingly, Huawei was the only company to get a pass from us,” Knockel told me.
Both findings suggest that at least one billion Chinese speakers have been affected.
Citizen Lab reported the findings to all vendors, with most of them promptly fixing all the issues.
As of April 1, 2024, only Honor apps remain vulnerable to potential attacks.
All these apps fall into the category of input method editors (IMEs).
A bang out ofmalware, akeyloggeris spyware that keeps track of and records every keystrokes as you bang out.
Put simply, keyloggers log what you punch in on your keyboard.
In some cases, they can even enable cybercriminals to access your gear camera or microphone.
This means attackers can intercept, delete, or modify data while in transit if not correctly encrypted.
They can do all that passively, which means they don’t send any additional connection traffic.
Many of us have learned to use avirtual private networkto encrypt all the data leaving our devices.
However, Knockel told me that not even thebest VPNservices can help here.
Likewise, using a secureencrypted messaging applikeSignalcannot help either.
Quite the opposite actually, you may be even more in danger when doing so.
Who may have been the target?
Furthermore, the vulnerabilities do not require technological sophistication to exploit."
The next obvious question is, who may have exploited these backdoors for all this time?
Intelligence agencies across the Five Eyes countries (especially the US) seem a rather more plausible option.
“The only remaining question is whether any [other] government had knowledge of these vulnerabilities.”
The good news is that you’re able to actively take some steps to mitigate the risks.
For starters, keeping youroperating systemup to date is key for maintaining good digital hygiene.
“The cloud-based ones offer better Chinese suggestions, so you might not necessarily want to switch.
“But that’s still very preliminary,” he said.
