One of the many reasons that I dislike the push towards wifi/wireless for everything. It makes my hair stand on end to see people using wireless keyboards (which people usually have for at least 5 years). People seem so disgusted when you even suggest that these things are inherently bad ideas which will inevitably lead to consequences and immediately push you into a naysayer/antiprogressive category verbally or silently.
I just recently learned that Logitech unifying receivers were susceptible to “mousejacking”[1] for years before a firmware update fixed it in 2016. There’s still probably many non-updated receivers out there.
To a mildly capable and somewhat determined attacker (who can get relatively close to you) this means your keyboard is probably readable from the radio signals.
A
Physical keystroke logger if you want to think of it that way.
I have a few commercial-grade WAPs, but they are about four years old and do not do MIMO. I wonder if any of the current hardware records RTT to sufficient accuracy so the distance from the antenna to the client is recorded/available. I also wonder if the phased-array antenna processor records the vector to the client. Such information is available from the hardware, but can anyone tell me if ANY WAP vendors are providing it via their management interface?
Such features could alleviate some of the parent poster's concerns.
Have you considered that using a wireless keyboard and other tech is OK under their threat model? I use one at home and I honestly can not see any downside to it.
Some wireless keyboards don't bother with any kind of protection to the data stream between the keyboard and the wireless receiver. That's the most obvious instance of bad keyboards. However, these days most wireless keyboards do use some kind of encryption on the pairing between the keyboard and the receiver, so that is a bit of a moot point.
Even if the data stream itself is encrypted there's still a little bit of data leakage. Your keyboard isn't constantly sending data, it really only chirps when there's an actual keypress event. So if you look at the actual physical RF, you 'll notice patterns related to the user's typing. There is some research in trying to guess key presses based on typing cadence, although I'm not sure exactly how effective it really is.
I say all of this typing on a Logitech Unifi keyboard amd routinely use bluetooth keyboards. As others have mentioned it really depends on your threat profile, and in the case of wireless keyboards you probably aren't near the level where this paranoia is justified. Are you typing state secrets that a foreign government body really wants in a public place? Probably want to have a wired keyboard...or maybe just not type such things in such places. Are you typing out a comment on Hacker News in a private space? Probably have nothing to worry about with a wireless keyboard.
