On Mon, 2010-09-06 at 11:38 +0200, Cédric Girard wrote:

On Mon, Sep 6, 2010 at 8:48 AM, Partha Chowdhury wrote:

...

Recently I am looking for an ergonomic keyboard to replace my old samsung pleomax keyboard. I wanted to buy microsoft natural ergonomic keyboard 4000 but that is not in the market and the only other keyboard I find is logitech ergonomic keyboard K350.The keyboard is very comfortable to type and works out-of-the box with linux. But the thing is that it is wireless and after a search of "wireless keyboard security" on google i am a bit paranoid about using any wireless keyboard.Also I did not find any encryption option if used by the keyboard while using the logitech provided setpoint software on windows XP and logitech site does not mention if the keyboard uses encryption.Does this keyboard uses some hardware in-built encryption that logitech does not divulge ?

If others on the list are using wireless keyboard, what are your experiences and recommendations ?

Are you working on an environment where potentials "spy" could be close enough to spy on your wireless keyboard typing ? Then you should be afraid of potential "over the shoulder" spying as well. Wireless keyboard have a limited range. If someone is able to catch this signal then it probably won't matter because there would be easier ways to spy on you.

-- Cédric Girard

I was intrigued by this topic so I did a quick google search. The general conclusion seems to be that the receiving range can be much further than the standard 5-15 m if you have purpose-built antennas, since typical wireless keyboard receivers don't.

On 09/06/2010 07:48 AM, Partha Chowdhury wrote:

Google searches do return some interesting results [2]. Although a keyboard/receiver pair can claim to use encryption it may be poorly implemented [1]. Logitech seems to use a proper encryption scheme [2] but who knows if it has some flaw that makes it easy to break.

[1] http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2007/12/wireless-keyboard-encryption-ea... [2] http://www.logitech.com/images/pdf/roem/Logitech_Adv_24_Ghz_Whitepaper_BPG20...

Also interesting is this[1] and this[2] where researchers were able to wirelessly sniff keystrokes from wired PS2, USB and laptop keyboards. These signals are definitely not encrypted. :) The second link has info and videos. If the OP went with a wireless keyboard with properly implemented encryption it could actually be more secure than a wired keyboard. [1] http://www.pcworld.com/article/161166/a_way_to_sniff_keystrokes_from_thin_ai... [2] http://lasecwww.epfl.ch/keyboard/ Regards, Mike

On Mon, 2010-09-06 at 12:44 -0300, Armando M. Baratti wrote:

Em 06-09-2010 08:45, Mike Sampson escreveu:

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.... If the OP went with a wireless keyboard with properly implemented encryption it could actually be more secure than a wired keyboard.

[1] http://www.pcworld.com/article/161166/a_way_to_sniff_keystrokes_from_thin_ai... [2] http://lasecwww.epfl.ch/keyboard/

Regards,

Mike

In fact using a wireless keyboard you're just increasing the chances of someone get your signal:

- through the air (exploiting some fail on the encryption)

*and*

- through the eletromagnetic field generated by the keyboard (the same way with wired keyboards, just with a signal slightly weaker for the absence of the wire).

Perhaps as Cédric have pointed, someone that could get as near as to get the signal (and carry the equipment to do do this) probably would use an easier way to spy on you.

Armando

Obligatory xkcd =) http://xkcd.com/538/