# Light Ears: Information Leakage via Smart Lights

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.07814 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.07814/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 23 Aug 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [DeepAuditor: Distributed Online Intrusion Detection System for IoT devices via Power Side-channel Auditing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12753/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Modern Internet-enabled smart lights promise energy efficiency and many additional capabilities over traditional lamps. However, these connected lights create a new attack surface, which can be maliciously used to violate users' privacy and security. In this paper, we design and evaluate novel attacks that take advantage of light emitted by modern smart bulbs in order to infer users' private data and preferences. The first two attacks are designed to infer users' audio and video playback by a systematic observation and analysis of the multimedia-visualization functionality of smart light bulbs. The third attack utilizes the infrared capabilities of such smart light bulbs to create a covert-channel, which can be used as a gateway to exfiltrate user's private data out of their secured home or office network. A comprehensive evaluation of these attacks in various real-life settings confirms their feasibility and affirms the need for new privacy protection mechanisms.