NDSS 2025 – GhostShot: Manipulating The Image Of CCD Cameras With Electromagnetic Interference

Researchers from Zhejiang University presented their work on electromagnetic attacks against CCD cameras at the NDSS Symposium. Their paper, titled "GhostShot," details a novel attack method capable of injecting manipulated images into CCD cameras. This attack utilizes intentional electromagnetic interference (IEMI) to alter captured images under normal lighting. The GhostShot method allows for injecting grayscale or color images, offering a high degree of control over the injected patterns. The researchers achieved this control through amplitude-phase modulation, allowing precise manipulation. They successfully tested GhostShot on 15 commercial CCD cameras, demonstrating the attack's feasibility. The study also highlighted the potential impact of GhostShot on applications like medical diagnosis and object detection. The falsified images generated by this attack can deceive both computer vision systems and human observers. The NDSS Symposium itself focuses on practical aspects of network and distributed system security. It aims to encourage the deployment and advancement of security technologies within the Internet community.