Description

A new side-channel attack, called RAMBO (Radiation of Air-gapped Memory Bus for Offense), has been uncoverd. This attack exploits electromagnetic radiation emitted by a computer's RAM to covertly transfer data from air-gapped systems. Air-gapped computers, which are isolated from the internet and other networks for high-security purposes—such as in government, military, and nuclear facilities—are designed to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches. Despite their isolation, these systems can still be compromised through physical media like USB drives or advanced supply chain attacks. The RAMBO attack involves deploying malware on an air-gapped computer to manipulate its RAM and generate electromagnetic emissions. These emissions are produced by altering memory access patterns and are captured by nearby attackers using inexpensive Software-Defined Radios (SDRs) and antennas. The RAMBO attack encodes data into binary form (1s and 0s) and transmits it via modulated electromagnetic signals. TThe data transfer rate can reach up to 1,000 bits per second (bps), equivalent to 128 bytes per second, allowing for the exfiltration of small amounts of data, such as text or keystrokes. For instance, extracting a password takes 0.1 to 1.28 seconds, a 4096-bit RSA key takes 4 to 42 seconds, and a small image takes between 25 and 250 seconds. Effective transmission ranges vary with speed: up to 3 meters (10 feet) at high speeds, up to 4.5 meters (15 feet) at medium speeds, and up to 7 meters (23 feet) at low speeds. This sophisticated attack underscores the need for enhanced security measures to protect even isolated systems from electromagnetic data leakage.