Researchers have devised a novel attack that recovers the secret encryption keys stored in smart cards and smartphones by using cameras in iPhones or commercial surveillance systems to video record power LEDs that show when the card reader or smartphone is turned on.

The attacks enable a new way to exploit two previously disclosed side channels, a class of attack that measures physical effects that leak from a device as it performs a cryptographic operation. The first attack uses an Internet-connected surveillance camera to take a high-speed video of the power LED on a smart card reader—or of an attached peripheral device—to pull a 256-bit ECDSA key off a government-approved smartcard. The other allowed the researchers to recover the private SIKE key of a Samsung Galaxy S8 phone by training the camera of an iPhone 13 on the power LED of a USB speaker connected to the handset.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/06/hackers-can-steal-cryptographic-keys-by-video-recording-connected-power-leds-60-feet-away/

Hackers can steal cryptographic keys by video-recording power LEDs 60 feet away

Key-leaking side channels are a fact of life. Now they can be done by video-recording power LEDs.

Ars Technica
@dangoodin Weird! I would have expected the brightness of the LED on an attended peripheral to be entirely unrelated to the power consumption of the device it's attached to. Why does it work like that?
@williamgunn @dangoodin Likely because, for cost reasons, they all run off a single power bus, so drain on one device affects another, or leaks signal via crosstalk. To fix this, devices would need redesigned power busses to provide clean, filtered, isolated voltage to subcomponents. (Modern guitar pedalboards use isolated power supplies more or less for the same reason, to avoid the hum and crosstalk typical of older ‘daisy chain’ power adapters.)
@ajkandy @dangoodin but it's not the same power bus, unless I misunderstood. The LED is on a separate device attached via Bluetooth.
@williamgunn @dangoodin As it’s described, both devices are connected by USB, and likely powered off the USB bus.