YOUR COMPUTER CAN LEAK YOUR PRIVATE ACTIVITY

Your browsing and app activity may leave clues you never expected.

YOUR COMPUTER TRACKS FILE CHANGES

Operating systems send notifications when files are created, changed or deleted. Apps can use these signals to react to activity.

PRIVATE FILES CAN STILL LEAVE CLUES

The researchers found that file notifications could reveal names and changes even when the person monitoring them could not directly read the files.

YOUR WEBSITE VISITS MAY LEAVE A TRACE

In a tested Windows setup, researchers used file-change notifications to identify websites visited in Firefox through folder names linked to site activity.

APP ACTIVITY MAY NOT STAY HIDDEN

In their Android test, researchers observed when files appeared in or were deleted from WhatsApp-related folders. They could not read the actual images or messages from these notifications alone.

EVEN TYPING TIMING CAN REVEAL CLUES

In a Linux test, file notifications exposed when keys were pressed, not which keys they were. Timing between keystrokes can still reveal information in some circumstances.

A FAKE PASSWORD PROMPT WAS ALSO DEMONSTRATED

On KDE Plasma, researchers showed how a local process could place a fake authentication window over a genuine one. This was a specific test, not evidence that every password prompt is unsafe.

FOUR PLATFORMS. DIFFERENT EXPOSURES.

The study examined Windows, Linux, Android and macOS. The researchers reported different levels and types of information leakage across them.

KEEP YOUR SOFTWARE UPDATED

Be careful about apps you install and services you trust. These research scenarios involve a local attacker or a compromised component, not simply a stranger connecting to any computer over the internet.

YOUR FILES AREN'T THE WHOLE PRIVACY STORY

Signals around files can reveal details about your activity. The researchers say they are unaware of these attacks being exploited in the wild.

Research: Graz University of Technology

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