Researchers at Graz University of Technology have unveiled a novel technique named FROST, which can monitor website visits and application usage by analyzing SSD activity. This method does not necessitate the installation of malicious software; instead, it operates through web browsers using JavaScript. FROST does not directly access data. It examines the latency involved in accessing the SSD, which can be affected by various applications, browser tabs, or system processes interacting with the drive. By training a neural network on this latency data, the researchers can identify spikes in activity and predict which website or application they relate to, achieving an accuracy rate between 85% and 95%. However, the approach has its constraints. For it to be effective, the system must have prior knowledge of the specific activity patterns associated with certain websites or applications. This means it can indicate that a user has likely accessed a specific site, but it cannot monitor activities in real time. The effectiveness of FROST also hinges on the device's configuration and the operating system, with macOS showing the most favorable results. Are you worried about being monitored online?
Informational material. 18+.
