7 ms·

It sounds weird that they're selling key-logging sticks for $50 and spoofing routers for $100 at a convention where you'd think everyone can build that stuff by

by tronje 10y ago

It sounds weird that they're selling key-logging sticks for $50 and spoofing routers for $100 at a convention where you'd think everyone can build that stuff by themselves for a much lower price. Just to add to your point, I suppose.

busterarm 10y ago
At a convention you can pay cash (semi-)anonymously where if you had to build that stuff you'd leave a paper trail. Many I know in this group of people (DefCon/HOPE attendees) do things like trade around craigslist-cash-purchased laptops.
- dublinben 10y ago
  It would also be a good place to anonymously buy Bitcoin for cash.
pmorici 10y ago
Even if you value your time as worthless then maybe you could build a hardware key logger for less than $50 in parts but I really doubt it.
- Vexs 10y ago
  You can buy them from china really cheaply for a couple bucks.
- riskable 10y ago
  There's no need to "build" anything for this purpose. Just buy a general-purpose microcontroller like this: http://www.freetronics.com.au/products/leostick http://www.freetronics.com.au/products/leostick ...and stick it inside a generic keyboard (which has plenty of room). I always thought that the fact that big corporations hand out the same keyboard to everyone enables these sorts of attacks. Any would-be spy could just make a handful of hardware key-logging generic HP and Dell keyboards and easily swap out any given keyboard at any given big company without having to even think. I never use my employer's provided mouse/keyboard combo. Mostly because they're always absolute crap but also because I want to give any potential attackers a hard time. I can only imagine the look on some attacker's face when they show up at my desk and see custom hardware everywhere =)
marcosdumay 10y ago
I'm sure a lot of people there has better projects to spend their time on than rebuilding commodity hardware.
mseebach 10y ago
> everyone can build that stuff by themselves for a much lower price At volume. But if you only need one (or ten), assuming your time has some non-trivial value, it's much cheaper to just buy off the shelf.

by tronje 10y ago

busterarm 10y ago

At a convention you can pay cash (semi-)anonymously where if you had to build that stuff you'd leave a paper trail. Many I know in this group of people (DefCon/HOPE attendees) do things like trade around craigslist-cash-purchased laptops.

dublinben 10y ago
It would also be a good place to anonymously buy Bitcoin for cash.

pmorici 10y ago

Even if you value your time as worthless then maybe you could build a hardware key logger for less than $50 in parts but I really doubt it.

Vexs 10y ago
You can buy them from china really cheaply for a couple bucks.
riskable 10y ago
There's no need to "build" anything for this purpose. Just buy a general-purpose microcontroller like this: http://www.freetronics.com.au/products/leostick http://www.freetronics.com.au/products/leostick ...and stick it inside a generic keyboard (which has plenty of room). I always thought that the fact that big corporations hand out the same keyboard to everyone enables these sorts of attacks. Any would-be spy could just make a handful of hardware key-logging generic HP and Dell keyboards and easily swap out any given keyboard at any given big company without having to even think. I never use my employer's provided mouse/keyboard combo. Mostly because they're always absolute crap but also because I want to give any potential attackers a hard time. I can only imagine the look on some attacker's face when they show up at my desk and see custom hardware everywhere =)

marcosdumay 10y ago

I'm sure a lot of people there has better projects to spend their time on than rebuilding commodity hardware.

mseebach 10y ago

> everyone can build that stuff by themselves for a much lower price At volume. But if you only need one (or ten), assuming your time has some non-trivial value, it's much cheaper to just buy off the shelf.