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Yao Liu’s Discovery of Using Radio Waves to Steal WiFi Passwords Featured in the Press

November 21, 2016

Yao Liu is part of a team of researchers from USF, Shanghai Jaio Tong University, and the University of Massachusetts Boston that has discovered that it is possible to determine the password of a WiFi user by analyzing disturbances in radio waves generated by a user entering a password on a WiFi device. The researchers were able to detect passwords commonly used by banks and payment apps with an 82 percent accuracy.

This discovery has been highlighted in the press including in a recent International Business Times article titled "Cybercriminals can steal all your passwords from thin air with this $25 Wi-Fi hack" (IB Times, November 14, 2016).