What’s the point of these unhackable netbooks

World domination!

Do you hear that?
thats the sounds of thousands of keylogger, portscanners, and sniffers booting up at the hands of hackers which are eager to prove that there is nothing “unhackable”, especially when it is marketed as such.

@nnx
Listen, its going to take more than “script kiddie” type of hacking to get past these things. A simple keylogger is not going to do a darn thing. Im sorry, but a real hacking attempt on such a device requires much more than what you have suggested.

Hack resistant, maybe.

There’s always a way. It will have to be tamperproof with an exploding dye pack, but that will only mean that someone won’t mind having blue skin for two weeks.

I have a relative with one of these laptops, they’ve actually started distributing them throughout highschools too. They’re trackable via GSM/GPS, and apparently “any modification will cause the laptop to shut down and cease to function” (his words)

I’ve yet to take a closer look at it, but it makes you wonder what kind of hacks are “detectable” leading to shutdown. For example, if I was to take it to my basement that has no GSM or GPS penetration, would they be stupid enough to embed a routine that shuts the laptop down when both signals are absent?

If not, wouldn’t it be as easy as removing the ceramic GSM/GPS antennas from the PCB to stop any GSM control / GPS fixes from occurring? (this works with the GM862/GE863 modules from TELIT for example, undetectable by the modules firmware, they just think and report no signal when antennas are detached)

@Hackius

‘Doh. You are correct sir.

Would it not be as easy as disconnecting from the internet, finding a way around the bios password lock, and flash a new one? I wish I could get my hands on one of these..

I would just refuse to use such a pain in the ass laptop. I mean, laptops with that kind limited power are widely available and cheap. So why bother using (and being financially responsible for any damages) something that is going to possibly be spying on you and brick itself if it things your hacking it?

So first I saw unhackable and I like :|
but then I saw Windows 7 and I lold :D

I’d just get my own netbook, which would be much faster than that, and THEN attempt to hack it… Sounds like a fun little project to me lol.

If it is GSM or GPS tagged then theoretically shouldn’t you be able to “clone” the ESN or IMEI and redirect the signal to a “dummy” device while you play to your hearts content? Just a thought……

You would have to make a seriously useless piece of crap for it to ever be “unhackable”. And by that I mean it literally discourages hackers by its absolute uselessness. I mean, you wouldn’t even consider it worthy of being a paper weight!!

So… what’s to keep someone from yanking the HD and making an image of it? Along with re-flashing the bios?

@daler, ethics my good man ethics… oops that’s WHY we do it.

big ups to the first guy to boot *nix on one and call tech support about the new ‘problem’

This is pretty retarded. Just what I’ve come to expect from educators.

Whats the point?

Unhackable…pleh…the firmware on the BIOS will be force flashed once someone gets a working ROM of it and decompiles it’s security measures. Unhackable? We will see about that, and I highly doubt they closed off the BIOS physically b/c with Win7 and new Firmware for the chipset they will definitely have “secure” bios flashing updated..pleh..,so many things wrong with that “unhackable” statement it really does bother me.

Physically accessible machines are never unhackable. Short or block out the antennas for wifi and GPS, and you’ve already half thwarted all their efforts.

I don’t really see the point of the laptops. How are kids going to learn how to use computers well if we only let them use certain applications and go to certain websites? Maybe for art or English it would be fine, but some kids want to learn OUTSIDE of their classes. 2 GB of RAM, wasted.

@emuboy: I was just about to suggest that. With the recent posts on flashing netbook bioses, it ought to be as simple as removing the bios and flashing it with the consumer bios version.

Nice method to test out your security… its a brilliant move, why spend millions testing the thing in house? Send it to the wolves, then after a year or so, they can say its real world tried and tested hack proof. I agree that nothing is unhackable, just takes the right mind.

My first instinct is to RF Shield it and try playing.

I’m not an expert by any means, but I really bet that with a few hours behind some brass screen, I could have that book doing my bidding like I’d brought it on board the mothership and probed it.

you know whats unhackable, A BRICK!!

or is it?

Shield it, disconnect, short to ground (to defeat batteries) then open it up get lots of shots online and then remove the usable parts, CPU/RAM/case/etcetera to use normally.
Any leftovers you put in an envelope in a mailbox at the ministry of information extraction, or what have you.

@k0ldburn

lol

unhackable netbook is wanking on your watch!

How can be That Unhackable.
If you add a lcd front display and you bloody hacked it.

@Collin. That’s because nnx didn’t hear me flick on the Weller :) Also GPS and GSM is so much fun with SDR and USRP. As if RF was ever uncompromisable… And RFID, it’s a riot! I thaught I’d never say this on the net, but right now I’m actually laughing out loud.

Hackproof? I’d like one of these. To try, of course.

Step 1. Open case
Step 2. Erase BIOS settings
…
Step 4. Profit!

Ok, on a more serious note, the adage of physical security being your last line of defense? That still stands true here. Even with ‘exploding dye packs’, all it would take is for one person to open theirs up, study where the dyepack *was* (since it exploded), and figure out how to open one without setting it off.

All you need to do is open the case, and you’ve got direct access to a reprogrammable hard drive, a flashable BIOS, and probably even a JTAG header and/or debug port for the really serious.

WOOHOO, Lenovo S10 parts will be flooding ebay shortly… EXCELLENT, i need a new keyboard… :)

These aren’t actually being distributed in college but in high school, after they leave high school hte netbooks are unlocked but still tracked.

We have about a hundred arriving in our school’s IT department in about a month, and we already have a team of 20 eager students trying to find a way of unlocking them. We’ve ordered 20 extra and students are encouraged to find any way to make these function as laptops that… y’no, could be of use to education.

Also, some have already been shipped for staff with a beta version of Windows 7. :|

M

Oh it’s sooo on. Unhackable my ass.

unhackable…unsinkable…we shall see?

I bet the first one to hack this successfully gets a job offer

You know.. I think they think it is a game. I also think it is the most stupid thing on earth. If you haven’t noticed.. almost ANYTHING is hackable. Even with Windows 7… which is probably even worse then Windows Vista to work with and figure out.. trust me I have Windows Vista and some things are not as easy as they say they are.

Anything with a simple internet hook up, or even wi-fi can be hacked. So.. good look in the whole.. “Unhackable” affair you guys.

@ aztraph – your right, I bet you anything someone will be landing a high paying job for hacking into the stupid system. LOL.

It is feasible: just distribute the laptops with no battery or power supply. No power == no hack. :p

Only way to make it unhackable is not to have it connected to the internet or a network that is connected to the internet. Even have the bluetooth and wifi turned off too.

Meh. Hackability is just a bios flash away.

These computers will be useless to 95% of students within a year if the Aust Govt continues with its plan to turn off the internet, more info at http://www.nocleanfeed.com/

for the other 5% who are wise enough to tunnel out and ruin $50m of govt coin, good for them!

RFID*

lol, windows 7 – “unhackable”. it was barely out of beta and had two huge exploits. making something unhackable is impossible, especially if it’s a closed source piece of shit like windows.

Hmm need to ask them to send one over here and they’ll get it back in a day (shippings not counted) fully hacked :P
Little solder jobs and reinstalls ::smoke

These “unhackable” netbooks are easily defeated by doing a Bios update using a bios version from a similar model not released for these purposes. Done. GPS won’t even be recognized, OS can be nuked and no remote administration can be done. It’s more hot air than anything else. Almost all of the netbooks can have their bios reflashed from thumbdrives.

First they give your kids these controlled laptops. Next they ban your kids from using their own laptops. Next they start loading up the laptops up with Government indoctrination material your kids are required to learn. Voila – in a generation you have New Venezuela instead of New South Wales.

Being one of the students who will be recieving the laptops this week, I bet someone will hack them.

If you guys are interested, I can put up a blog/image gallery/whatever and post info and pictures of the laptops.

Happy Hacking!

@max you want to give us a url ?
im with the rest of you guys.

dye pack ? freeze laptop

flash bios. install *nix … reuse gps and gsm as i would imagine there doing the tracking in software

the first student to load osx on one of these. hell ill buy you a coke

I’ll host it at http://www.maxexcloo.com when/if I do it (haven’t got the laptop yet).

BTW, site is currently down due to my VPS being broken :p

I hate how they veiw hacking like its a bad thing. Hell I’ll be laughing my ass off when every single on of those networks gets tripped by false positives….it’ll almost top the xbox360′s rod. lol

Pahlease even MS says if you have physical access it is game over. They probably have application whitelisting, but Rootkit, bootkit, and that is gone, even if the bios is locked and the OS is only application whitelisted, simply backup the os and hack it in a VM to get the local admin password etc.
I don’t think they are making the hardware really unhackable, just hard… oh noes security torx where oh where will I get them from, I don’t think they are going die-packs or even case opened switches.
With such a large userbase it will be moments before they are broken.