Framework laptops seem ideal for a lot of use cases that require disabling hardware, particularly if it’s meant to be reversible. I certainly can’t readily physically disconnect the microphone on my other laptops with some major repair work!
Lenovo over there putting the power button on the webcam connector because reasons XD
Just recently I upgraded my Samsung phone, and it used sound transfer to make the initial connection to the old phone to set up the wifi transfer between the pair.
The use of sound for communication is nothing new, the use of sound to (covertly) exfiltrate data from an airgapped machine kinda is.
I know the idea has been around for quite some time.
But to covertly exfiltrate data it will still need to get a friendly app onto the air-gapped device, which will require some support from the owner/operator of said device, along with a suitable receiver for the exfiltrated data.
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The exfiltration of data through sound without an application running on the target device was probably something that relies on ultrasound emitted by the CPU. There has been a proof of concept a few years ago and honestly there is nothing you can do about it. But honestly, as long as you don’t carry around state secrets, it’s probably nothing you should worry about. Someone with the knowledge and technology to abuse that, they probably have about a thousand other ways to get to your data. Like hitting you over the head with a blunt object while the laptop is unlocked.