Kaspersky Lab patented a method to deal with unauthorized access to microphone data on Windows devices to help protect consumers from the threat of audio tracking. This method is used in the flagship solutions of Kaspersky Internet Security and Kaspersky Total Security, which are the only security solutions in the market that provide integrated technologies to protect microphones from malicious access.
To control access to consumer audio data, it is necessary to monitor all microphone requests in the operating system and to block all unauthorized or conducted by an unreliable program.
If the user just closes the microphone or tape it, it is still possible for the intruders to record sounds from the surrounding devices via the loudspeaker or other methods. Until now, there is no default protection against unauthorized access to the user's audio data on Windows operating systems.
Kaspersky Lab's new patented technology filters the internal commands sent or received by service "Windows Sound" and indicates the creation of each new audio stream from any application.
After that, the technology uses Kaspersky Lab's Application Control feature, which categorizes all programs as "reliable," "very / a little limited," or "unreliable," based on reputation, content, and manufacturer. If it detects a "unreliable" or "very / a little confined" program that tries to attack the microphone, the request is automatically blocked.
"Consumer protection is important to us and that is why we are creating technologies to keep our customers' digital lives safe from malicious access," said Alexander Kalinin. senior security researcher της Kaspersky Lab. Και συνέχισε: «Όταν πρόκειται για την προστασία του ήχου, η κύρια challenge ήταν η ύπαρξη ενός συστήματος πολυπλεξίας (multiplexing system) ηχητικής ροής στα Windows, το οποίο επέτρεπε σε διάφορες εφαρμογές να ηχογραφούν ήχους ταυτόχρονα. Όμως, αυτό το πρόβλημα λύθηκε εύκολα με τη βοήθεια της πλούσιας υποδομής μας στον kernel-driver, που συμπεριλαμβάνει έναν μηχανισμό για τον έλεγχο εντολών μεταξύ των υπηρεσιών των Windows».
Audio security is part of the Privacy Protection feature included in Kaspersky Lab's home security solutions.
It also includes the function Webcam Protection, which warns users about access to the built-in or connected webcam, and Private Browsing, which prevents any attempt to download data των χρηστών μέσα από τον web browser. Και οι δύο functions offered for both Macs and PCs.
Kaspersky Lab currently has over 580 patents in America, Russia, Europe and China. Here you can read more about US9652625 patent.
