Thieves can use thermal camera and AI to crack your password. Here's how

Experts have warned that criminals can make use of heat-detecting cameras to crack passwords. Researchers discovered that these cameras can help crack passwords up to a minute after typing.

Researchers at the University of Glasgow have developed a tool called ThermoSecure System that used thermal images in combination with artificial intelligence to make "informed guesses" of what the password could be, reported Bloomberg.

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"They say you need to think like a thief to catch a thief," says Mohamed Khamis of the Scottish university's School of Computing Science.

He added that his team developed ThermoSecure by "thinking carefully about how malicious actors might exploit thermal images to break into computers and smartphones."

Their findings have been published in the journal ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security.

How often can passwords be cracked?

Two words answer is 'quite often'. The system successfully cracked around 86 per cent of the passwords when a thermal image was clicked within 20 seconds of typing in the secret code or password.

It even successfully cracked long passwords of around 16 characters. However, the success rate for this was lower at 67 per cent.

Shorter passwords had a higher success rate. Up to 12 characters were guessed right on 82 per cent of the tries, eight characters were cracked right on 93 per cent of attempts and six character codes were successfully worked out 100 per cent.

When the time was increased by 10 seconds and the thermal image was clicked in around 30 seconds the success rate dropped to 76 per cent and a further drop to 62 per cent was seen at 60 seconds of typing.

How does it work?

When we touch an object a small part of our body heat is transferred via conduction. Thermal images detect this heat and these areas show up a little bit brighter in the picture.

If a user types in his/her password and leaves the device unguarded, any passerby equipped with a thermal camera can capture an image that reveals the heat signature. This 'thermal attack'can then give away your passwords, codes etc.

(With inputs from agencies)

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