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RCA / Thomson Modem Hack Discovered

Posted by Hemos on from the the-joy-of-hacking dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Those un-employed modem hackers are at it again. The group known as TCNiSO has released a very interesting hardware modification for RCA / Thomson cable modems. The modification is done by grounding the bus clock on the serial EEPROM which throws the device into a diagnostic panic mode. Then by using the debug tools from the embedded console to reprogram the EEPROM, a user can permanently enable a developers menu which gives complete control of the modem, such as modifying the hardware addresses or flashing new firmware. Now if only these guys can figure out how to enable the Bluetooth features on my v710 phone..."

3 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Don't fuck around w/your modem's MAC. by Saxton · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That, and is there any real functionality you are able to get from this hack? Didn't seem like it. I am guessing for 95% of the people that do it are going to follow the directions, say "yay I did it" and then forget all about it other than being able to tell their friends that they owned their own cable modem.

    *yawn*

    -Aaron

    --
    My name is Aaron Landry, and I approve this message.
  2. Hacking cellphones by null+etc. · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now if only these guys can figure out how to enable the Bluetooth features on my v710 phone...

    Try the discussion forums over at wirelessadvisor.com

    I posted a teaser message there once regarding the Motorola T720. By using the USB modem cable and a COM port sniffer, I determined that extended AT modem commands were used to synchronize the phone with the desktop. By posting my findings, someone took the initiative and started a Yahoo! group for hacking the T720. Within a month, the group had 400 members and within five months the group had collectively hacked the T720.

  3. Great way to lose your service. by papasui · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This violates most acceptable use policies, regardless if your own the cable modem or not changing your modems mac address would fall under hacking as your could cause service interruptions on your network segment for other people. Your paying for internet service not the right to fuck around with a companies million dollar network. We had a kid get arrested for this, changed his modems mac everyday but never changed his nic's. Pretty trivial to track him down.