In this presentation from the InfoSec 2013 conference held October 3, 2013 in Louisville, Kentucky, Mehdi Sabraoui discusses the relative insecurity of SCADA network protocols. He covers the Sixnet Tools, taking advantage of a proprietary communication protocol supported by nearly all of Sixnet’s SCADA devices to compromise these devices across a network. Mehdi is a […]
Category Archives: hacks
DEFCON video: Live Free or RFID Hard
In this talk from the 2013 DEFCON conference, Francis Brown and Bishop Fox provide practical insight into how RFID proximity badge systems work. They highlight the real world difficulties encountered in reading RFID prox cards with conventional readers, and what you’ll need to build out your own RFID physical penetration toolkit. They use an Arduino […]
Control your Xbox 360 RF Module with an Attiny45
tin0 wrote a post on how to control your Xbox 360 RF Module with an Attiny45, we wrote about it previously: Buying an Arduino or an Raspberry Pi for using your freshly harvested Xbox 360 RF Module is somewhat pricy and overscaled for this job. There are very cheap Microcontrollers out there which can communicate with ~130 […]
555 timer chip scroll music player
Here’s a music player project based on 555 timer chip by RimstarOrg: This is a music player I made for my entry for the 2013 Ottawa Mini-Maker Faire. It’s based on the popular 555 timer chip. My main design criteria was that it had to be far more robust than my previous music player that used […]
Homebrew lab agitator from salvaged CD-ROM parts
Rohit Gupta cannibalized parts from an old PC and made a lab agitator from a salvaged CD-ROM drive. “It is a homebrew replacement for a chemistry lab shaker that prevents sedimentation. It has variable shaking rates and also an end stop detection to enhance the stability of the machine overall. It is quite useful when […]
Computer aided dispatch in a box
Kenneth Finnegan has been working on computer aided dispatch project: For these events, we usually have several dispatchers on different frequencies, and then build an entire computer network around them so that they can use a local HTTP-based computer aided dispatch (CAD) system to pass and log information. The problem is that there are a lot of […]
I2C LED Display from Hacked Voltmeter
Tom writes: I turned up this cool project write up that reprogrammed a cheap LED voltmeter for use as a general purpose 7 segment display with I2C communication. These voltmeters cost about $3 instead of $10 for an equivalent LED display backpack from Adafruit. NB the author used a Bus Pirate to troubleshoot the bitbanged […]
Blackhat presentation slides: Android master key
Bluebox CTO, Jeff Forristal’s presentation slide package entitled “Android: One Root to Own Them All” about his research that uncovered the Android Master Key is now available. This presentation is a case study showcasing the technical details of Android security bug 8219321, disclosed to Google in February 2013. The vulnerability involves discrepancies in how Android […]
Hard Disk Drive Midi scratch controller
DoktorAndy built this scratch controller made from parts of an old harddisk and an optical mouse: Check out this cool Hard Disk Drive Midi Scratch Table. It uses the sensor from an optical mouse to look at the movement of a hard drive platter. There are a number of buttons that can change the midi output […]
Xbox RF module controlled by R-Pi
tin0 decided to explore the hardware on an Xbox 360 and harvested the RF Module with the intent on using it with the Raspberry Pi. He wrote up this detailed tutorial posted at Astrorats, including links to the source code written in Python using the wiringPi2 library. Via the contact form.
Chirp, a plant watering alarm
Miceuz of wemakethings made this Chirp, a soil moisture level sensor based on ATTINY44. When the plant dries out, it starts to chirp reminding you to water the plant: Chirp is a plant watering alarm – as simple as that. You put it into the soil near a plant and it emits a tiny chirp when the […]
Ford Mustang haptic feedback shift knob using OpenXC
The Haptic Feedback Shift Knob is a replacement for a manual transmission shift knob that adds haptic and visual feedback to help drivers shift appropriately. An Android application monitors the vehicle’s speed, RPM and accelerator pedal position. Based on this information, the application calculates and then indicates to the driver when he or she should […]
BeagleBone GamingCape
Max Thrun has written a detailed article on his hand-held gaming console based around the beaglebone black. It covers everything from custom PCBs, to a 3D printed prototype enclosure, to a final enclosure laser cut from delrin: Older brother of the LaunchPad GamingPack, the BeagleBone GamingCape transforms your BeagleBone into a full fledged hand-held gaming console capable […]
Flight Simulator X – Arduino-driven autopilot controller
The Microsoft Flight Simulator X is a popular (though not open source) program used by many aeronautical enthusiasts and gamers. (There’s even a free trial version.) One aspect of the simulator is to allow the user to enter an autopilot mode, whereby various modes can be controlled using a 3D point-and-click interface. Practical use of […]
Use the TP-Link TL-WR703N to send Arduino sensor data
Recently we highlighted the TP-Link TL-WR703N in a post. Some makers have used a WiFi shield to allow an Arduino to communicate with this router, and others have used the router’s PCB as a shield bridging Ethernet to Wifi. Martin wanted to interface an Arduino with the router directly, so that it could be used […]
Reverse engineering a wireless burglar alarm
Cybergibbon has been working on reversing the digital protocol used by a wireless alarm system he recently acquired. He began by observing the alarm sensor’s signal using first an RF Explorer, then using RTL-SDR and SDR# to record the signal, which he analyzed with Audacity. Next, he cracked open the sensor itself to investigate the […]
BSidesRI video: modding the TP-Link WR703N router
At the recent BSidesRI conference in Rhode Island, USA, James Edge presented an overview of the TP-Link WR703N wireless router, and how it is modifiable akin to the WRT54G. (The manufacturer’s website does not contain documentation for the 703N. The linked doc is for the 702N, which has many of the same features and functions […]
Open SmartWatch Project: Arduino tool chain (alpha)
We recently posted about the Sony Open SmartWatch project. Since then, Arduino enthusiasts and Sony have been working on a proof of concept for how SmartWatch could be setup to work in an Arduino environment. As a result of these efforts, the Arduino crew have published a GitHub project that includes an alpha version of […]
Autonomous car build
Jason Dorweiler blogged about his autonomous car build: For the localization of the car I’ll be using a GPS sensor and accelerometer. First, the GPS will find the starting coordinates of the car. Then the car will start moving, somewhat blindly at first. Once the car is moving, data from the accelerometer and elapsed time […]
ATtiny25 Basic VCO, RC oscillator overclocking and testing frequency pickup
Alex over at InsideGadgets has posted an article describing how he built an ATtiny25 voltage controller oscillator (VCO): I recently bought a Rigol DS1052E and have been playing around with the different functionality it has. Eventually I came to the point that I’d like to see what frequency does to various components and wanted to build […]