Video analysis softwares and apps can now be used to reveal PIN numbers from videos captured as far as 10 meters. This technique can be applied on videos captured using webcam, Google Glass, Samsung smartwatch and even iPhone 5.
You will be amazed to know that Google Glass has the potential to steal someone’s PIN while looking at him from a distance of 10 meters. The software or the app used to accomplish this is based upon deciphering the shadows as well as movements of the finger of the person while he is composing his PIN number on smartphone or tablet. The scientists working on the project have even revealed that same holds true when video is captured using webcam, Samsung smartwatch or iPhone5, The video captured by glass revealed the 4-digit PIN with an accuracy of 83%. When manual corrections were applied, this accuracy increased upto 90%. While using the webcam the PIN the accuracy climbed to a staggering 92%.
The work on the project is led by a team under the supervision of Professor Xinwen Fu who is from the University of Massachusetts. He presented the details of his findings at the Blackhat hacker conference. According to him, even if the eye is unable to see the passwords and PINs from as far as three meters, the new video processing software is able to calculate it with an accuracy of 90%. The software is based upon two important concepts. First of all it tracks the relative motion of the fingers on the touch screen to calculate the possible digit entered. Secondly, the shadows around the fingers are analysed using state of the art pattern recognition techniques to judge the inputs.
