Can A Device’s Microphone be Hacked?

If I said yes, would you look at your phone differently? Would you change how you talk when you’re near it?

I say this because I’ve already done it. I’m listening — I’ve heard you. I listen to how you eat, bathe, cry, and what you say to yourself when you’re alone. You don’t know, I know. But I’m always with you, wherever you go.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. After all, everything is hackable. It just takes time for someone to break in. Once I’m in, everything you say is knowable. You trust your phone too much.

People didn’t always trust phones, not at first. We used to be so scared of them. We never shared any of our details on our devices. Nothing. Now we share everything. Everything. You’ve grown up knowing nothing else. We’ve all grown so comfortable that we’ve forgotten this technology is hackable. We need it with us. Always. But if it’s connected to the network, it’s connected to someone. Me. I have heard you. I know you. You give me access to your life without fuss. But you don’t know.

Nice.

I’m in your home. In your car. I sleep with you. I hear everything you do as you do it. And you haven’t got a clue. You’re my kind of people. I like you.

This permanently connected lifestyle opens a door for me. I’m a new kind of hacker — A Listener.

Listeners like me connect to a device’s microphone by activating it remotely from within the device itself. Once we’ve done this, a short piece of code keeps the device’s channel open. We hear everything. As the audio flows out, it becomes a constant stream of information for me. You won’t know this is happening, except you might say to yourself, “Goodness, the Internet is running a bit slow tonight.”

Listeners sit back and analyse the sounds within the stream. You may wonder why we’d do such a thing. It’s not only for voyeuristic reasons but for research. Some of us are fishing for business. Lifestyle patterns, keywords, conversations, anything that indicates what kind of consumer you are. Your age, sex, location, likes and dislikes. When you come home. When you leave. The information is used to qualify you. We sell your information to corporations.

Not all Listeners do it to make money. A few of us do it for other reasons.

Unbelievable, right?

My neighbour’s mother has had a Post-it note covering her laptop’s lens ever since she owned one. She was right to do it. Hackers can see her if they want to. Unfortunately, she never considered covering its microphone. It still broadcasts every sound she makes.

Some of us have purposely instructed a device to keep listening and broadcasting its sounds over the ‘Net. How ridiculous is that? We’re asking for trouble and paying for the privilege!

We sign them in, then hand over the sounds of our lives to strangers.

Corporations tell us their smart devices don’t listen when they’re not being used—but that’s been proven wrong. Alexa heard a double murder take place. Of course, Amazon denied it. They had to. They said Alexa isn’t supposed to do that, but the investigation discovered that she did and does it today.

In the meantime, there are hundreds of sites that teach wanna-be Listeners how to turn on computer microphones from remote locations. There are Listeners everywhere, hearing all kinds of information about you through your device!

And you didn’t know about it until just now.

It’s only technology. And all technology is hackable.

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SEETHINGS 2 is about a serial killer who hacks into computers and switches on their microphones — it allows him to find new victims. When the right one comes along, he moves in for the kill.

The book was written and released recently. Its genre sits between psychological thriller and neo-noir. Its themes are dark, sexy and dangerous. It’s also a brain-bender, but definitely worth the ride to its explosive conclusion.