Hacking device can secretly swipe and tap your smartphone screen

A hacking device can be placed under a table and use electromagnetic signals to mimic human touch on nearby touchscreens. It could then be used to secretly download malware or send money

By Jeremy Hsu

A stealthy way to gain access to a phone or tablet uses electromagnetic signals to swipe and tap on a touchscreen left on a table. Devices capable of carrying out such an attack could be used to force someone’s device to download malware or to send money to the attacker.

Two different research groups independently came up with similar approaches to achieve the attack. It begins by placing a device that contains both an antenna for sending signals and a …