Charging Into Your Privacy: Indirect Privacy Leakage Attack Using a Laptop Charger

Researchers discovered a side-channel attack (a method of extracting secret information by analyzing physical properties like power usage rather than breaking encryption directly) called PrivateCharger that can infer what a user is doing on their laptop by analyzing magnetic field signals from the laptop charger from a distance. The attack works with commercially available equipment, requires no physical access to the laptop, and achieved 84.6% accuracy at certain battery levels, revealing that everyday peripherals can leak private information in ways previously not considered.