* Originally in: SF_Reality

Your Wi-Fi cable could be a secret microphone': How researchers turned an earthquake detection method into an accidental spy tool using AI

Date:
Tue, 12 May 2026 23:25:00 +0000

Description:
With minimal cable access, commercially available tools and AI, attackers can technically listen in to your conversations via your fiber optic cables.

FULL STORY
New research covered in Science
has revealed the very fiber optic cables which connect billions of households and commercial premises to the internet could actually be used as covert listening devices.

Weve already seen subsea cables being repurposed, or multipurposed, as environmental sensors and data collection tools capable of detecting ships, earthquakes, underwater drones, anchor drags and more, but its now been revealed that previously low-risk fiber optic spying is now a higher risk
than ever thanks to AI. According to the analysis, the attack is most
feasible on Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) and enterprise fiber connections where cables physically pass closely to occupied spaces, where conversations are most likely to be happening. The revelation
stems from analysis of a technology called Distributed Acoustic Sensing
(DAS), which effectively turns a single fiber optic cable into thousands of vibration sensors spread along its length.

DAS works by sending laser pulses down a cable and analysing minor changes in light reflections. Those changes are caused by sound waves, which cause tiny deformations to the glass fiber enough to see measurable differences in the light patterns.

We show that in almost every case where you use these fibers, this could be a privacy concern, University of Edinburgh geophysicist Jack Lee Smith
explained during a presentation at the general assembly of the European Geosciences Union.

The research revealed how an attacker only needs access to one end of the cable and DAS hardware thats generally commercially available to conduct an attack, which raises widespread security concerns given the proliferation of fiber optics in delivering higher-speed broadband and the fact that fiber had previously been considered far more secure than copper against interception.

It also serves as an important reminder that attackers can also exploit lesser-reported side channels rather than intercepting the internet traffic itself. Remember, theyre using the physical cable as a vibration sensor to pick up ambient and environmental sounds.

The researchers demonstrated that, under certain conditions and with the help of artificial intelligence, nearby conversations, keyboard typing, television audio and other sounds could be reconstructed.

Real-world limitations do, however, threaten its efficacy as a spying tool. Background noise, signal degradation, cable insulation and network branching all degrade an attackers chances of converting distorted light signals into reliable audio.

As for non-attackers, this technology is already being used in the UK to detect underground water leaks. Its also used globally for pipeline monitoring, perimeter security, traffic monitoring and more, proving that the humble fiber optic cables uses span much, much further than just delivering broadband connections.

Smiths work shows that the real-world threat is still low, with the best efficacy coming from intercepting surface-level, coiled cables placed within five meters of a sound. Burying a cable even by just 20cm of soil is enough
to impact the sound quality, as are straight cables (even if theyre at
surface level).

However, while the practical risks today remain pretty low, the mere feasibility of the attack combined with the rapid pace of advances in AI suggests that infrastructure deployed today could present a more meaningful security risk in the future.

Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/your-wi-fi-cable-could-be-a-secret-microphone-ho w-researchers-turned-an-earthquake-detection-method-into-an-accidental-spy-too l-using-ai

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