Acoustic Attack
An acoustic attack exploits the correlation between key material and sounds emitted during cryptographic operations (coil whine, capacitor vibration) to recover keys via a side channel.
Purpose
It demonstrates that acoustic emanations from cryptographic operations can leak keys even in air-gapped environments, motivating acoustic shielding.
Mechanism
A microphone captures sound near the CPU during cryptographic execution; spectral analysis correlates the recording with hypotheses about key bits, and correlation peaks reveal the correct key. During RSA decryption, coil-whine frequencies correlate with key bits.
Use cases
- High-security environment assessment
- RSA acoustic side channels
- Air-gapped environment threats