Photobombs made from the black and white square barcodes could cause problems for device wearers.
Google Glass owners may want to be careful where they aim their new headsets, as researchers have now discovered that scanning the wrong QR codes could result in the corruption of the device.
The research firm said that they were capable of developing their own attack of this nature.
Lookout Mobile security firm researchers claim to have been able to come up with an attack as of last spring that could compromise Google Glass through the use of QR codes. This functioned extremely simply when the user scanned a malicious barcode.
The vast majority of QR codes are used simply to provide device users with a fast way to link to a website.
However, in this case, the seemingly innocent QR codes caused the device to be hacked. According to the researchers who developed the malicious attack to take advantage of the bug, they have already come up with a fix for the issue. This is important because according to what was reported to Google, the attack could crash the device or force it to connect to a rogue Wi-Fi hotspot that could eliminate the encryption of the communications of the device. It could also send it directly to a malicious website that would allow full control of the device to be handed over to the attacker.
According to Marc Rogers, one of the researchers at Lookout, “Google has set up the device so that Glass scans every photo you take for something interesting.” He added that “While that’s exciting, the fact that Glass can parse photographs opened up a vulnerability. By understanding and reverse engineering the QR codes, we were able to create malicious ones that would silently reconfigure the device.
Rogers went on to describe a situation in which a person could wear a t-shirt that features QR codes that have been maliciously crafted. The result to a passing user of Google Glass is that he or she could be “photobombed”, and the owner of the barcode could attack the device. Similar situations include printed stickers of the barcodes that are placed overtop of innocent ones on billboards and other ads.
Research has shown that these wearable devices will rely on true AR technology to succeed.
According to IHS, the market watcher firm, for Google Glass and other “smart glass” wearable devices to be able to succeed, they will need to be able to provide strong augmented reality experiences.
IHS feels that without AR technology, these devices will fail to achieve mainstream adoption.
They also pointed out that in order to achieve such widespread popularity, they will need to be able to become “true augmented systems” . IHS cautioned organizations making augmented reality glasses that unless application adopters discover new ways to present the wearer with useful and relevant information within their line of sight, then the devices will be little more than a camera that can be worn.
The firm feels the augmented reality information must be “safely and easily integrated into casual use”.
Within IHS’s statement it used Google as an example of the progress of the augmented reality glasses market. It spotlighted the search engine giant’s drive for its Glass project, which has focused primarily on the ability of the device to record video. This was recently demoed using a creative skydiving exercise.
According to IHS senior analyst, Theo Ahadome, “The true success of Glass will be when it can provide some information to users not apparent when viewing people, places or things.” He also stated that “This information may include live updates for travel, location reviews and recommendations, nutritional information and matching personal preferences, and previous encounters to aid decision making.”
The firm identified two potential futures for the augmented reality glasses market. They feel that if marketers don’t use the full potential of AR, then there will be 1 million of the devices being shipped by 2016. This scenario would be catastrophic for Google, which is predicting that its own device will become available in 2014. Should that occur, the firm said that this number will rise to 10 million.
In 2012, there were 50,000 augmented reality glasses shipped. This should increase to 124,000 by the end of this year, as developers build their demand for the technology.
