Vista has speech recognition hole

[flopticalcube]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6320865.stm

Microsoft has admitted that speech recognition features in Vista could be hijacked so that a PC tells itself to delete files or folders.

Not a huge deal, but there none the less.

 

[monke]

That took a whole, what, say 24 hours now?

 

[killmoms]

More like "not a hole at all." Here's the attack vector:

1) Turn on voice commands (not on by default)
2) Be at the computer (voice commands deactivate when the screensaver comes on/screen is asleep/computer is asleep)
3) Have your speakers turned up
4) Have your mic close enough to your speakers
5) Turn off Vista's echo-cancellation (on by default)
6) Issue commands

AKA... not a hole at all. People who think this is a "hole" might have a hole in their head.

 

[jMc]

Surely a similar 'exploit' could be performed with Mac speech recognition.

Bloody Microsoft, playing catch-up again...

jx

 

[xUKHCx]

The exploit scenario would involve the speech recognition feature picking up commands through the microphone such as 'copy', 'delete', 'shutdown', etc. and acting on them," a Microsoft security researcher wrote on the team's official blog.

Now it is not really an issue considering Vista's speach recognition abilities

 

[whooleytoo]

Surely a similar 'exploit' could be performed with Mac speech recognition.

Bloody Microsoft, playing catch-up again...

jx

Too true!

My Mac & TV even started a conversation a few times, until I figured out what was going on.

(Every now and then I'd hear some noise coming from the Mac, but never managed to catch what it was. But once it happened with the sound turned up - in this case someone from TV said "We don't have the time!" and the Mac replied "It's seven thirty".

Ok..ok.. it's not the most rivetting conversation ever, but...)

 

[Gosh]

Call me Mr Cynical!

Mr Cynical from Cynical Towers, Cynicville, Cynicshire but...

it's the one leading edge feature that Vista has - don't you think maybe it's a ploy to draw attention to it? Then they can say fixed it!?!

 

[killmoms]

(Every now and then I'd hear some noise coming from the Mac, but never managed to catch what it was. But once it happened with the sound turned up - in this case someone from TV said "We don't have the time!" and the Mac replied "It's seven thirty".

Ok..ok.. it's not the most rivetting conversation ever, but...)

Bwaha, that's awesome.

 

[akadmon]

Surely a similar 'exploit' could be performed with Mac speech recognition.

jx

You're kidding, right? I think speech recognition in OS X is a complete joke. Even a simple request such as "What time ist it?" takes several attempts to be recognized by OS X! And you think that "Open Folder X, move file Y to Trash" would work?

 

[janitorC7]

Can we please get off of Voice Recognition in this world. It's not going to work with consmer tech, and there does not seem to be a need for it. Mabye in like 40 years, When I'm talking to my second generation iHOME and telling it to adjust the lights. But for rite now I dont see it as a big deal

 

[princealfie]

Can we please get off of Voice Recognition in this world. It's not going to work with consmer tech, and there does not seem to be a need for it. Mabye in like 40 years, When I'm talking to my second generation iHOME and telling it to adjust the lights. But for rite now I dont see it as a big deal

Wow, not a visionary eh, buddy?

 

[jeremy.king]

It's not going to work with consmer tech, and there does not seem to be a need for it.

My sister's blind father-in-law would disagree...Seriously, if we can make it easier for people to interact with a computer or device, then I say lets do it.

 

[whooleytoo]

Bwaha, that's awesome.

I have to say, it is pretty freaky when your home electronics start talking to each other and you're not involved! Try telling THAT to your doctor.

 

[jruc4871]

I have two speech recognition holes.

 

[Bill Gates]

I have two speech recognition holes.

As do I.

 

[killmoms]

My sister's blind father-in-law would disagree...Seriously, if we can make it easier for people to interact with a computer or device, then I say lets do it.

I guess janitorC7's visionary plan for consumers is "**** the blind."

However, I agree with the assessment that the overall goal of voice recognition (make it possible to interact with a computer largely via sound instead of visuals) has not been reached yet and still has some significant hurdles to overcome. At the moment, voice interaction is focused on creating a "window" into a primarily visual-driven system. Blind people still have to deal with concepts of windows and pages and dialogues and other systems designed to be primarily visual. I think the real accomplishment will be creating devices that are focused SOLELY on voice as their input, and output information to the user in a fashion that is beneficial for that goal.

It's hard to explain, and obviously this is a layman's view (since I am neither blind nor involved in designing UIs), but I feel like it's at least semi-educated conjecture. Or at least my opinion, which is mine.