Slashdot Mirror
Ready, Aim, HACK!
KD5YPT writes "According to a story on Wired, Adam Laurie and Martin Herfurt demonstrated that they can hack a Bluetooth enabled phone from up to a mile away using a sniper rifle with yagi antenna. Kinda gives a new meaning to '1337 hAx0r2'."
Uhm, no, not really. Not at all.
Why bother.
The "rifle" design with a scope actually makes sense. If there's a moving target at a decent enough distance, all you have to do it keep them in the sights while you communicate with the device. Otherwise, a yagi on a stick without sights is probably a little harder to aim precisely, especially if your target is far away.
this is my sig
A telescope or transit tripod. You're going to be a little obvious pointing any object that looks like a rifle at someone only 50' away. Especially in an urban area. I would also imagine that the weight is more than it needs to be, since the stock and grip are designed to resist the kick. It still gets "cool points" in my book though. Parhaps it would work out better to build a directional antenna within a telescope or transit, so as to be a little more inconspicuous.
www.facebook.com/DareDefendOurRights
www.fairtax.org
Do you really think you wouldn't go to jail for aiming that thing at someone? The police don't care if it's not a real rifle, the same as they wouldn't care if you aimed a realistic looking squirtgun at someone on the highway. As far as they're concerned, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, you're threatening someone with a duck.
Ignorance is the root of all evil.
Makes a guy wonder how good the politicos are at securing their phones. Need to call a campaign manager directly? I'd bet a person could collect interesting phone numbers from a motorcade driving by. Not that that would be legal or ethical, of course. I'm merely postulating.
This is yet another reason NOT to buy those stupid phones with 14 different features. Every time I buy a cell phone, I buy the cheapest one available, so it doesn't have all of this crap associated with it. I just want a cell phone that *works*. The last thing I want is a phone with so many useless features that it actually has *security* holes! That's insane. So if it comes to the point where the only phone I can get has this stupid Bluetooth stuff, then I have to worry about feds wiretapping me AND kids hacking in? Great. I'm going back to cans and string.
The beauty of the sniper rig is that you're not SUPPOSED to be -seen-.
Besides, if you can do this with a sniper rifle, you can do it with gear that looks like a telephoto rig. While it won't look less suspicious, it will appear less malicious.
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
Yeah, but all I want my phone to do is store numbers and call numbers. Seriously. I'll get a seperate PDA for the rest of the crap. And no f'ing way I want a camera on there either. If I wanted a camera, I'd get a nice slim digital, or a real SLR camera.
SIG: HUP
If you were to point a camera at someone instead, you'd be arrested for "casing a national security threat" and held indefinitely without bail until they decided to execute you.
John