> In 1985, Wim van Eck published the first unclassified technical analysis of the security risks of emanations from computer monitors.[2][3] This paper caused some consternation in the security community, which had previously believed that such monitoring was a highly sophisticated attack available only to governments; van Eck successfully eavesdropped on a real system, at a range of hundreds of metres, using just $15 worth of equipment plus a television set.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking
In this context "emanations" means a signal allowing the listener to reconstruct the image and read the words on the screen.
I'm not sure if it works with modern monitors (CRTs were pretty high voltage!), but they are also quite "loud" in EMF. A fun experiment is to walk around your house with a portable radio in AM mode. You can "hear" all the electronics!
That said, if you're using a wireless keyboard it's pretty much a given that the keystrokes can be recovered by timing analysis regardless of the manner of wireless connection. At least unless you happen to hunt and peck painfully slowly.
Embedded touch is a whole'nuther issue. One could certainly remotely measure the radiated emissions of a cell-phone to get finger proximity and position in at least one if not both XY dimensions.
My father worked in defense. He shared lore about the genesis of tempest, the requirement to use faraday cages to protect secrets, gear, etc.
The story goes that some kind of red team set up shop down the road from some missile tests (or something) with some simple gear. Afterwards, they shared the launch codes used, shocking all the brass. Hence the need for shielded comms.
> The Thing was designed by Soviet Russian inventor Leon Theremin, best known for his invention of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument.
An interesting read is Spy Catchers written by first science officer from MI5 in cold war. he was tasked with reversing listening devices and making them.. it doesnt spill all the beans but givea a good insight into how far they were already then.
u can hardly imagine what tech exists now 40-60 years later as electronics and computers have shrunk drastically and infinitely more weird material properties are discovered....
And the Moog company, specializing in high tech products, started by a cousin of the synthesizer guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_Inc.
https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jul/13/2002761779/-1/-1/0/LEA...
Haseltine’s The Spy in Moscow Station is also a fascinating account of events.
Also there are ways to detect diode junctions now.