Computer security is as vitally important today as it ever was.  And you might have all of your passwords locked up safe inside of your head with a vow to never tell another soul, but sleep fitfully, for your computer’s keyboard has no such qualms.

No, I’m not talking about keylogging software.  Though that certainly is something to fear too, a good security sweep will keep nasty programs like that at bay.  I’m talking about the simple electromagnetic eminations over the wires that connect your wired keyboard to your computer.  (And no, wireless is most definitely not better.  By definition wireless broadcasts your keyboard’s activity.)  Be it PS/2, USB, or even your notebook computer, the data has to travel over wires to get from the keys to the computer.  And for people who know just how to listen in, your data is far from secure.

So say Martin Vuagnoux and Sylvain Pasini of the Security and Cryptography Laboratory (LASEC) at the School of Computer and Communication Sciences (I&C) at the EPFL.  (Say that five times fast.  Better yet, say it in French.)

They found four different ways to wirelessly snoop your keyboard’s activities, from a distance of up to 20 meters (65 feet) away, even through walls.  No keyboard was safe from these researchers.

And it’s not just computer security at risk.  Any key or number entry pad potentially poses the same security risk, including ATMs.

Now, while scary, this is certainly not an attack you can expect the common criminal to attempt.  For one, you need a big antenna.  John Q. Public standing next to an ATM with a huge antenna might be a bit suspect.

But professional corporate espionage is certainly game.  That white van parked in your parking lot?  That office across the street?  The apartment next door to yours?  It’s not just your wireless ethernet (and other devices) that you have to worry about anymore.  Now you have to worry about your computer itself.

Which, actually, has pretty much always been true anyway.  The only safe computer has no wireless devices, is disconnected from the internet, is running tons of security software, from a non-admin account, is unplugged, and buried twenty feet in the ground.

Or, in other words, simply the act of using a computer makes your data unsafe.  There is no such thing as a completely secure computer.

Still, there are plenty of things that one can do to keep a computer relatively safe.  And surely I’ve gone over them all before.  But there’s also a new one emerging.  It started with the advent of wireless technology, and is no doubt growing in importance day by day.  And that is blocking electromagnetic radiation.  There are more and more technologies like EM shielding paint that can be used to EM secure a room or building.  And if your data is of the utmost importance, perhaps it’s time that you looked into seperating your PC’s room (or building) from the rest of the EM world.

Do you ever have ideas about things that you are dangerously undereducated on? Like you know just enough to be dangerous? Yeah, I do. And one thing I’d love to learn more on, through hands-on experience if at all possible, is exploring new and innovative automotive designs. Mostly I’m drawn to cars and motorcycles, which considering I’ve never even ridden a motorcycle may seem a tad weird. But just because I’m not an expert doesn’t mean I don’t have any ideas.

If I had millions of dollars, one of the first things I’d love to do is start my own out-of-the-box automotive design business. And one of my first R&D projects? Electric disc brakes.

Instead of a hydraulic system that pushes pistons into calipers that grab a disk, why not simply have a capacitor-backup (for safety) electro-magnetic caliper system? Imagine how much better response time an electromagnet has compared to a hydraulic piston and what that could do for traction control, anti-lock brakes, and so forth. But for that matter, imagine a system where water can’t get into a brake line because there is no brake line.

Toyota is already replacing their hydraulic power steering system with the electric power steering system that they pioneered for the Prius hybrid. They liked the electric system so much better that it’s moving into other cars now. It has fewer parts. It has less ways to break. It needs less maintenance. And best of all, it works better.

I think the same type of move could easily be done for brakes. More responsive brakes with less maintenance and failure points? Who wouldn’t want electro-magnetic brakes? Especially as more cars become hybrids, more cars are going to have electrical systems capable of supporting new ideas like this. The general concept is still ultimately the same anti-lock disc brake design. You just replace a complex and high-maintenance hydraulic system with simple maintenance-free electromagnets.

Yep. If I could open up Arah’s Automotive, electromagnetic antilock brakes would be one of my first projects.

Since I don’t have the money to do that in real life, I’ll just have to imagine. So I’m imagining Arah’s Automotive here, on my blog. This is where it begins.