Researchers at the University of California, Irvine say a popular class of high-performance computer mice can be turned into unexpected listening devices that can capture nearby conversations by sensing desk vibrations.
In an experimental prototype called Mic-E-Mouse, the team demonstrated that modern optical mice (especially gamer and designer models with extremely high DPI sensors and fast polling rates) can pick up the tiny surface vibrations caused by sound waves. By collecting raw motion packets from the mouse, filtering out irrelevant movement, and running the result through a neural network, the researchers were able to reconstruct intelligible speech with up to 61% accuracy.
The attack relies on basic physics and the sensitivity of modern sensors. When someone speaks near a desk, sound waves create micro-vibrations the sensor interprets the same way it tracks hand movements. Because the data can be harvested by software that requests high-frequency mouse updates, the kind of access granted to many games and creative apps, the researchers warn the data collection could be stealthy.
Many consumer mice with the required fidelity are already available for under $50, and the components could become even cheaper. Researchers warn that increased adoption of such high-fidelity peripherals across homes, offices, and government facilities expands the potential attack surface.
