Plug And Prey: Malicious USB Devices

January 27, 2011 by 21 Comments

This very informative talk given at Shmoocon 2011 has been posted over at IronGeek. Covering all kinds of angles that a person could attack someones computer through the USB port, this should be read by anyone who is security minded at all. No matter which side of the port you tend to be on, this article has great information. They cover some common attack methods such as keyloggers and fake keyboards as well as some common methods of securing your system against them. We’ve actually seen this in the news a bit lately as people have been using the keyboard emulation method in conjunction with android phones to hack into systems.

[thanks Adrian]

The Pirate Box

January 27, 2011 by 21 Comments

One of the most fun aspects of a LAN party was exploring the shared files of all the other users on the network. There were people that would show up, solely for the file swapping. That is exactly what this project is about. From the projects wiki, the Pirate box is a mobile p2p sharing and collaboration platform. Basically it is a wireless hotspot with a slick interface and a shared folder. It doesn’t connect to the internet, and it doesn’t log any connections. You can have a file swapping session simply by flipping it on and sharing its space with other people. They’ve included a step by step guide to setting up your own, but if you’re going to do some subversive file swapping we might suggest putting it in a less conspicuous enclosure. Imagine this as a portable verion of dead drops.

Disguise Your Acura NSX As A Ferrari F50

January 26, 2011 by 61 Comments

We know what you’re thinking. “I have this Acura NSX, but my friends just won’t think I’m cool unless I have a Ferrari F50.” You know what? You’re right. To save yourself from that kind of ridicule, you can simply carry out a ridiculous body mod to make your poor NSX live up to your friends expectations. It only took massive amounts of fiberglass, foam, and bondo to get this NSX looking the way the guy wanted it. We have to wonder if there was any performance hit with the additional weight, then again, he may have removed enough metal panels to compensate.  While we may joke about it, we really do have some respect for the amount of work he put into this thing. The finished job is simply amazing, in terms of reproduction of the original. Kudos crazy car modder guy.

Make Presents: The Multimeter

January 26, 2011 by 17 Comments

This video falls under the category of things we want to send people when they ask “how do I get started with electronics”, and we get asked that a lot. For those of you who have been working with electronics for years at all, you can skip this entire video. That is, unless you really want to watch an instructional video on multimeters. In the video, which we’ve included after the break, they talk about the differences between different meters, the common uses and how to actually use the meter to get the results you need. Stuffed full of useful information, this video will get those of you who are still reading up to snuff pretty quickly. Now go use your multimeter to do some hacking!

Continue reading “Make Presents: The Multimeter” →

Learn To Code At Lifehacker

January 26, 2011 by 26 Comments

[Adam] over at lifehacker is putting together a series on the principles of programming called “Learn to code”. They are using Javascript as a basis to teach the fundamentals that would allow you to get stuff done in any similar language, like actionscript. After you’ve got these basics down, even moving to an object oriented language shouldn’t be too difficult. We absolutely love educational resources and hope they continue this series pretty far. They’ve already released part one and part two. We have supplied the video from each after the break, but there’s more info at the links.

Continue reading “Learn To Code At Lifehacker” →

Stepper Directed HDTV Antenna

January 26, 2011 by 22 Comments

Credit: http://www.instructables.com/id/Computer-controlled-OTA-TV-antenna/

Broadcast TV has come a long way from adjusting the rabbit ears on top of the set just to get a fuzzy black and white picture. While nowadays there are often HD signals broadcast in most areas, it can often still be critical to redirect an antenna to get the best possible signal. By harvesting a stepper motor from an old 5 1/2″ floppy drive, and using a PC’s parallel port to control it, this adjustment can be handled automatically. Broadcast tower locations are easily found online, and once you have calibrated your stepper to face North, you are on your way to free HDTV reception.

What we would like to see is this antenna attached to a HTPC, and some kind of script to automatically direct the antenna for the best possible signal for the current channel. If anyone out there makes this happen, be sure to let us know.

Making The IM-ME Dongle More Useful

January 26, 2011 by 15 Comments

So you’ve hacked your IM-ME six ways from Sunday but don’t know what to do with the USB dongle? [Joby Taffey] set out to make this leftover a useful part of the hacking arsenal. He pulled off the USB connector and the USB controller chip. From there he glued on the pin headers as pictured above in order to turn this into a breadboard-friendly single in-line package. But wait, that’s not all… for the low-low price of common components he also built a power and programming cable. Once it’s all said and done you can load PinkOS, an operating system he developed for the device which lets you operate the onboard radio via serial protocol.

Need a better overview of the hardware on the board? [Joby] laid the groundwork for this hack back in October.