Hackers can silently commandeer Siri, Google Now

This means hackers could use open-source radio software running on a laptop, an antenna and amplifier to send electromagnetic waves picked up by the headphone cord from close range.

In a paper printed by IEEE, Chaouki Kasmi and José Lopes Esteves from the French Network and Information Security Agency, created a “silent remote voice command” method that makes use of a pair of plugged-in headphones to whisper in Siri’s ear with out you realizing it. The instructions may be despatched through radio from so far as 16 ft away, Wired reports.

As Vincent Strubel explained “the sky is the limit here, everything you can do through the voice interface you can do remotely and discreetly through electromagnetic waves”.

As smartphones become an inseparable part of our everyday lives, they also become the primary target for hackers around the world, looking for a way to steal data, use our devices for a botnet and place unwanted ads. The virtual assistants could then be fooled into starting several actions, such as opening certain web pages that might deploy additional malware, texting or calling premium phone numbers that would generate income for hackers, calling a third party so that the user can be spied upon, or send spam and phishing messages via email, Facebook or Twitter. Simply by voicing commands, Siri listens and obeys, whether you want to know how many calories are in your soda can or how many planes are flying above your head this very instant.

It only works on phones that have microphone-enabled headphones or earbuds plugged into them. Researchers in France have shown that they can hijack your phone via those headphones with microphones, using the headphone wires as an antenna to pick up their malicious signals. Many Android phones don’t have Google Now enabled from their lockscreen or have it set to only respond to commands when it recognizes the user’s voice. Google Now voice control isn’t accessible from the lock screen by default, however Siri is.

To disable access to Siri from your iPhone’s lockscreen, go to Settings app tap Touch ID & Passcode uncheck Siri under Allow Access When Locked.