Reading RFID cards from afar easily

RFID hacking has been around for years, but so far all the builds to sniff data out of someone’s wallet have been too large, too small a range, or were much too complicated for a random Joe to build in his workshop. [Adam]‘s RFID sniffer gets around all those problems, and provides yet another reason to destroy all the RFID … Read the rest

USB dongle generates and enters your passwords so you don’t have to

usb-password-dongle

Like many businesses out there, [Joonas Pihlajamaa’s] employer requires him to change his password every few months. Instead of coming up with a complex, yet easy to remember password again and again, he built a small USB device to do the work for him.

He dismantled an old USB memory stick, fitting it with an ATtiny85 with its required components … Read the rest

Securing your Keurig with RFID

keurig-hacking

[Andrew Robinson] and his co-workers are lucky enough to have a Keurig coffee maker in their office, though they have a hard time keeping track of who owes what to the community coffee fund. Since K-Cups are more expensive than bulk coffee, [Andrew] decided that they needed a better way to log everyone’s drinking habits in order to know who … Read the rest

Researchers claim that HP laser printers can be hijacked to steal data and catch fire

hp-laserprinter-security-holes

The news was abuzz yesterday with coverage of a study released by Columbia University researchers warning consumers that HP laser printers are wide open to remote tampering and hacking. The researchers claim that the vast majority of printers from HP’s LaserJet line accept firmware updates without checking for any sort of digital authentication, allowing malicious users to abuse the machines … Read the rest

RFID reading and spoofing

Locks are always temporary hindrances. After deciding to open the RFID-secured lock in his department, [Tixlegeek] built a device to read and spoof RFID tags (French, Google translate here).

The system is built around an ATMega32 microcontroller with a 16×2 LCD display. A commercial RFID reader module takes care of all the sniffing/cloning duties, and a small modulation circuit … Read the rest

Beer security system keeps freeloaders out of your stash

beer-security

The crew at the Milwaukee Hackerspace are pretty serious about their beer. They used to have a fridge filled with cans, available to all at the hackerspace, but they decided to beef things up and create a secured beer dispensing system.

Like many others we have seen, their kegerator is built into an old refrigerator, complete with a tap built … Read the rest

Simple circuit reminds you to lock the door as you rush out of the house

door_lock_minder

It seems that [pppd] is always rushing out of his apartment to catch the bus, and he finds himself frequently questioning whether or not he remembered to lock the door. He often doubles back to check, and while he has never actually forgotten to lock the door, he would rather not deal with the worry.

Since he finally had some … Read the rest