What Eckbox Is For

Eckbox is software that allows a user to remotely shoulder surf on a target computer's monitor (this is known as van Eck Phreaking).  It requires a certain amount of hardware that must be made by the user.  Instructions for building this hardware is located on Eckbox's SourceForge Project Page, although some day if I'm not lazy, it will be included in this document and the man pages too.

How To Install It

After untarring (tar xvzf eckbox-v0.9b2.tar.gz) the archive, cd to the directory eckbox and run make, and make install.

configure doesn't actually do anything.

How to Use It

First, see the Eckbox Project Page to build the hardware needed.

After that, you'll need to calibrate Eckbox.  To do this, on a separate computer, run the bw program in the eckbox directory.  This should display a screen of alternating black and white pixels on the monitor.  It helps if the monitor on the separate, target computer's resolution is the same as the resolution that you intend to be spying on.

Once you have bw running on the separate computer, place the radio from your hardware next to the separate computer's monitor, and run eckboxcalib (just typing it at the prompt will do).

Now you can just type "eckbox" at the prompt, and it will do the shoulder surfing for you.  If you experience any problems, examine your hardware, jiggle your radio, and read the man pages.

How It Will Improve Your Life

If you're a corporate spy, I'm certain you'd love to be able to book a hotel room next to a target CEO and read everything right off his laptop through the wall.

If you're a security freak, I'm sure you'll love the ability to develop hardware and software to counter this type of attack.