DIGGINGBEAGLE
Home/concepts

Topic · DiggingBeagle record

Out-of-band covert channels

Communication paths that cross an intended isolation boundary through physical emissions, environmental effects, sensors, shared infrastructure or semantic carriers outside the approved data path.

Definition & limits

Communication paths that cross an intended isolation boundary through physical emissions, environmental effects, sensors, shared infrastructure or semantic carriers outside the approved data path.

Research using this topic (16)

CaseAirHopper turned display hardware into an FM-band exfiltration pathCaseBitWhisper bridged adjacent air-gapped computers through heatCaseDiskFiltration encoded secrets in hard-drive actuator noiseCaseFansmitter leaked data through computer fan noise without speakersCaseDolphinAttack delivered inaudible commands through ultrasonic carriersCaseLED-it-GO used the ordinary HDD activity light as a fast optical transmitterCaseODINI exfiltrated through CPU-generated magnetic fields despite Faraday shieldingCasePowerHammer carried covert data through electrical power linesCaseLow-contrast QR codes formed a screen-to-camera air-gap channelCaseAIR-FI generated covert Wi-Fi-band signals from memory busesCaseAiR-ViBeR moved data through desk vibrations into a smartphone accelerometerCaseLight Commands converted laser modulation into microphone commandsCaseORT recovered reflected on-screen text from eyeglasses in video callsCaseSirens’Whisper injected near-ultrasonic prompts into speech-driven LLMsCaseTrojPix turned imperceptible pixel changes into long-range video-cable radio emissionsUpdateNoam Brown cited thermal covert channels when questioning air-gap sufficiency

Cite this record

DiggingBeagle. “Out-of-band covert channels.” https://diggingbeagle.com/concepts/out-of-band-covert-channels/

Citation guidance

Why this archive exists

The source matters after the headline fades.

DiggingBeagle is a non profit research project documenting AI security incidents, agent failures, vulnerabilities and AI-assisted operations. A case keeps its claims beside the sources that support, contest or limit them. Later updates stay visible, so a reader can see when the account changed.

We publish case reconstructions, dated reporting and analysis across records. Each has a different evidentiary role. About the project and our methodology explain how the work is reviewed.