usb

655 Articles

Uber Keyboard Hides Security Tools In Plain Sight

May 18, 2011 by 38 Comments

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[EverestX] works in the Security industry and is often required to recover or penetrate various systems for a variety of reasons. He wanted to create an all-in-one tool that he could easily carry from job to job which would provide him with several essential functions. He required that the device house a bootable operating system through which he can perform his work, have an Internet connection capable of injection, and have enough storage capacity to back up passwords, images, etc.

He decided to build the system inside an old IBM M-type keyboard, which provides a solid typing experience and plenty of real estate for his various components. After converting the keyboard from PS/2 to USB, he installed a USB hub along with his flash drive and WiFi card.

Once he gets everything reassembled, it should prove to be a pretty stealthy and useful piece of equipment. A word to the wise – if you happen to see someone sneaking around your office with a 20-year old Type-M keyboard, be wary.

USB Geiger Counter Hack

May 13, 2011 by 17 Comments

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[Vic] bought a Kvarts DRSB-01 Geiger counter a few years ago, and recently dug it out of his electronics stash. The counter is a run of the mil no-frills unit. It lacks any kind of LCD display and it cannot be calibrated, so Sievert exposure ratings are out of the question. The unit essentially monitors background radiation and alerts the user to the presence of gamma and high-energy beta rays via audible clicks.

[Vic] wanted to make it a bit more useful, so he decided to interface it with his computer in order to take long-term radiation measurements. He dug up a schematic online and deadbugged a small circuit using an ATtiny44. The circuit allows him to enumerate the electrical pulses generated by ionizing particles striking the Geiger tube, passing them along to his PC over USB.

The counter seems to interface with the PC just fine, but [Vic] does say that he’s getting some odd readings. He thinks that he might have damaged the tube while messing around, but he’s all ears if you have any insight on the matter.

USB Keyboard Prankster

May 4, 2011 by 26 Comments

Being a long time prankster, [cyclonite] came up with this pretty clever hack in an old USB flash drive.

The drive was removed from its case, and the stock memory and controller was removed. On the back, an attiny 2313 is glued to the pcb, while resistors are swapped to work with the VUSB library. Wirewap wire is used to jumper all the needed points to the new micro controller on the back, and a temporary ICSP header was fitted on the end to load software.

What your’re left with is an innocent looking usb drive that, when plugged in, sets itself up as a keyboard then proceeds to toggle the caps lock on your victims computer every few minuets. Classic.

Join us after the break for a quick video.

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Thrift Store Hard Drive Enclosure

May 2, 2011 by 8 Comments

[Ken] visited our site looking for case modding stuff a little while back, but more importantly he came back to show off his latest project. Using a jewelry box found at our favorite place, the thrift store, he converted it into a 2.5 inch USB drive enclosure.

Almost instantly he found that this particular jewelry box is a perfect fit for a 2.5 inch SATA laptop drive. Taking that as a sign he whipped up some acrylic mounts and cut some holes for power and USB . The electronics are provided by another enclosure with a dead drive, again acrylic is used to insulate the drive from the decorative metal box and some rubber washers were used to help cancel out vibrations and noise.

The end result is a classy looking 150gig usb drive that looks nice on the desk, and a little reminder that if your not hitting up your local thrift / second hand stores, you could be missing out on some real gems.

MindWave Is Developer (read: Hacker) Friendly Mind Control

April 22, 2011 by 3 Comments

Here’s a setup to control a servo motor with your mind. [Danny Bertner] made this project happen by interfacing a MindWave headset with an Arduino. You might wonder what’s the big deal about that since we’ve covered quite a few mind control hacks that work this way? So far, the majority of those hacks used the Mindflex toy (to be fair there were several using the Force Trainer as well), which depends on a chip made by the company that is responsible for the MindWave. Both the Mindflex and the Force Trainer were reverse engineered to access the stream of data coming in from the EEG sensors. But NeuroSky is embracing the urge to mess with their products by offering developer tools.

[Danny] took advantage of these resources, using the comany’s own guide to interfacing with an Arduino (PDF). The quick clip after the break shows his finished project, grabbing data from the USB dongle that comes with the headset, converting it to the necessary levels for the Arduino, then processing the signals for display on and LED bar graph.

We can’t help but chuckle about the warranty-voiding disclaimer at the top of the PDF guide.

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Magellan GPS Hack For Hassle-free Charging

April 20, 2011 by 21 Comments

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Hackaday reader [Paul] recently shared a simple hack he put together via our Flickr photostream.

It seems that his Magellan GPS unit is pretty finicky when it comes to power supplies. When connected to the Magellan adapter, the GPS unit charged as you would expect. When connected to a PC, it sensed the connection and allowed its file system to be mounted, just as it was intended to do.

However, a problem arose when he tried hooking the Magellan up to a different power supply. The unit still thought it was connected to a PC, and refused to perform any GPS-related functions since its file system was tied up. Not wanting to lug around multiple chargers, he decided to see what the heck was going on with his GPS unit.

He pulled the plug apart and found that the 4th and 5th pins of the USB cable were shorted together. While most devices ignore the 4th pin, the Magellan checks to see if that pin is grounded. If so, it assumes it is connected to its power supply. If not, it assumes that it should act as if it is connected to a PC.

With this information in hand, [Paul] did the same thing as any of us would and hacked together a USB cable with shorted pins. The cable can be attached to any standard USB port or charger, saving him from having to lug around an extra adapter.

Long-range Bluetooth Wardriving Rig

April 15, 2011 by 56 Comments

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[Kyle] was digging through a box of junk he had lying around when he came across an old USB Bluetooth dongle. He stopped using it ages ago because he was unsatisfied with the limited range of Bluetooth communications.

He was going to toss it back into the box when an idea struck him – he had always been a fan of WiFi wardriving, why not try doing the same thing with Bluetooth? Obviously the range issue comes into play yet again, so he started searching around for ways to boost his Bluetooth receiver’s range.

He dismantled the dongle and found that the internal antenna was a simple metal strip. He didn’t think there would be any harm in trying to extend the antenna, so he soldered an alligator clip to the wire and connected the CB antenna in his truck. His laptop sprung to life instantly, picking up his phone located about 100 feet away in his house. He took the show on the road and was able to pick up 27 different phones set in discoverable mode while sitting in the parking lot of a fast food chain.

While it does work, we’re pretty sure that the CB antenna isn’t the most ideal extension of the Bluetooth radio. We would love to see what kind of range he would get with a properly tuned antenna.

Keep reading to see a quick demonstration of his improvised long-range Bluetooth antenna.

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