Air Gap Malware Hackers Can Now Attack Without Internet.

When a machine is infected with malware in an network is to remove that machine from the network. This effectively prevents the malware from spreading to other devices.

One of the go-to strategies for securing a computer network when a machine is infected with malware is to remove that machine from the network. This effectively prevents the malware from spreading to other devices.

Simply removing a malware-infected machine from a network might not be enough to secure other machines, for advanced hackers have found an simple way out to bypass the 'air gapping technique', technique used by network admins in building a literal air roadblock that stops malicious computer code from propagating throughout a network.

What is Air Gap Malware? :-

Air-gap malware is that which is able to jump the air-gap by “translating” malicious computer code into high-frequency sound, then transmitting that sound to infect nearby computers.

Sound as Virus :-

“Recently, researchers have started to show proof-of-concept implementations of how malware could leak data from an air-gapped machine using peripheral devices such as microphones and sound cards.” said Engin Kirda, professor at Northeastern University and a co-founder of Lastline, Inc., a company specializing in advanced malware.

Computer data can’t travel over the air in its raw form, but your computer’s sound card is more than enough to “broadcast” the malware as inaudible sound that interacts with other machines. It doesn’t care what network a computer is on.

Same as MODEM :- 

Kirda also noted that “Think of it as a technique that is similar to how modems work and how machines communicate over phone lines.”

How worried should you be about air-gap malware?

“This is all not trivial…The attacker would probably have to be very sophisticated to be able to pull of something like this.” said Kirda.

There’s noway to protect yourself from air-gap malware, but that’s okay for now. The techniques that go into employing air-gap malware are complex and can only be orchestrated by a very skilled/experienced
hacker.

This isn’t the type of malware you accidentally get from installing bum software. It’s the kind you get when someone is targeting your network specifically.

source