Troublesome, but does require visual line of sight. Could the assistant detect the kind of energy being received and reject a transduced signal?
Laser pointer could hack your voice-controlled virtual assistant
by Nicole Casal Moore
Michigan Engineering
Researchers identified a vulnerability that allows a microphone to 'unwittingly listen to light as if it were sound
From a distance of more than 300 feet and through a glass window, a laser beam can trick a voice-controlled virtual assistant like Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant into behaving as if it registered an audio command, researchers from the University of Michigan and University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have demonstrated.
The researchers discovered in the microphones of these systems a vulnerability that they call “Light Commands.” They also propose hardware and software fixes, and they’re working with Google, Apple and Amazon to put them in place.
“We’ve shown that hijacking voice assistants only requires line-of-sight rather than being near the device,” said Daniel Genkin, assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan. “The risks associated with these attacks range from benign to frightening depending on how much a user has tied to their assistant. ... "
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