MoLe: a smartwatch side-channel attack that poses no real world threat

Researchers from the University of Illinois have published a paper entitled MoLe: Motion Leaks through Smartwatch Sensors, which, if you believed everything you read online, might lead you to think that anyone with a smartwatch (or fitness band for that matter) is at imminent risk of giving hackers the keys to their data kingdoms. “Another reason not to get a smartwatch” or “you are at an increased risk of losing your privacy” and “smartwatches and connected fitness gadgets can open the door to hackers” were typical media reactions to the paper. If you actually read it through rather than just watch the somewhat dumbed down video explanation you will soon realise it’s not quite as straightforward as all that.