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Sys-Admin Dispenses Passwords With a Banana (thenewstack.io)

Posted by timothy on from the difficult-to-defend-against-bananas dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A network administrator in Denmark is requiring users to perform a finger press on a banana to receive their Wi-Fi passwords. "The banana is mounted and in production," he posted Thursday, sharing two pictures. The banana uses a special new circuit board from Makey Makey to form a connection between the banana and a cheap Raspberry Pi computer with a screen attached, according to one technology site. They note that it could also detect finger presses on a doughnut, an apple, or even Jell-o, and offer this quote from the sys-admin about his motivations. "It's fun... It'll make people smile. It beats a static WPA password in funnyness." And most importantly, "When people leave our office, they can't access our WI-Fi because there's no banana to touch." This guy deserves some kind of award, come July 29th.

47 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. It's fun until... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ...the banana rots or attracts fruit flies to the office.

    1. Re:It's fun until... by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Obviously, the banana will be replaced from time to time...

      That being said, time flies like an arrow but fruit flies like a banana :-)

    2. Re:It's fun until... by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Don't like it? -na, -na [waving banana]

      The good news is, it is easy to switch to something else after the banana joke starts to grow, or flies away.

    3. Re:It's fun until... by cellocgw · · Score: 1

      And here I thought you were going to finish that with "...until someone shoots his eye out with the banana"

      --
      https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
    4. Re:It's fun until... by smittyoneeach · · Score: 5, Funny

      Fruity banana
      At the Copacabana
      Attracted a fly
      Demanding WiFi

      "Hear my buzz roar
      As iWatch dance floor."
      "We won't be nice
      To you and your lice,"

      Said the bouncer so dour
      Wielding a swatter with power.

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    5. Re:It's fun until... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      ...the banana rots or attracts fruit flies to the office.

      Dude. You blew it. Better Subject: "Sounds appealing until..."

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    6. Re:It's fun until... by smittyoneeach · · Score: 1

      That's a Tuesday-only gig.

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    7. Re:It's fun until... by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      It's always Tuesday somewhere!

      Er, what?

      --
      The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
  2. Office supplies by eexaa · · Score: 5, Funny

    This invention moves the bananas into the same category as printer ink cartridges.

    "My wifi doesn't work!" "Have you tried to replace your banana, sir?"

    1. Re:Office supplies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A call to sexual help line: "My wife doesn't work!" "Have you tried to replace your banana, sir?"

    2. Re:Office supplies by plover · · Score: 1

      I always thought the banana problem in computer programming was funny. Now there are two banana problems. When will they end?

      --
      John
    3. Re:Office supplies by Gallefray · · Score: 1

      It's like everyone has gone absolutely bananas over them.

  3. Oh, sure, this guy gets the accolades by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I tried to do something similar, all I got was a sexual harassment lawsuit!

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Oh, sure, this guy gets the accolades by leob · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sometimes a WiFi password is just a WiFi password.

    2. Re:Oh, sure, this guy gets the accolades by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Funny. If you squeeze any sysadmins banana hard enough, you can get any password you want.
      The cheapest and quickest way to beat computer security is a $5 wrench. https://xkcd.com/538/

    3. Re:Oh, sure, this guy gets the accolades by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The OP never made any such suggestion that sysadmins are male. That bit of sexism is all on you. Further, if you think that female sysadmins have no use for a banana then maybe mom should let you out of the basement more often.

    4. Re:Oh, sure, this guy gets the accolades by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      Who cares? I mean seriously - do you think that women who cannot take a joke are the only ones contemplating going into ITor that scenario is a good thing? I say let them become mechanics and bitch about snap on tools instead.

    5. Re:Oh, sure, this guy gets the accolades by kthreadd · · Score: 2

      For women that are affected by this problem it's not just a joke, it's how they are treated every single day that is the problem.

    6. Re:Oh, sure, this guy gets the accolades by reboot246 · · Score: 1

      Is that a password in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

    7. Re:Oh, sure, this guy gets the accolades by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      For women that are affected by this problem it's not just a joke, it's how they are treated every single day that is the problem.

      Banning big bad bananas? Or do we just breed them so that they are square shaped and then do the same with anything else with a large length to width ratio?

      So as not to unjustly upset anyone who sees a banana, thinks it looks like a penis, and then gets pissed off at human males because a banana reminds them of a penis.

      Sounds like a remarkably stable person to me! But we cannot stop there. All male rapist foods need renamed as well. We need to come up with a different name for those tasty legumes that are another symbol of the patriarchy - peanuts. So offensive on so many levels Sounds like pee, and males testicles shoved together and then it sounds like Penis...... Penis-Peanuts? A conicidence? I don't think so! not funny dude - so not funny.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    8. Re:Oh, sure, this guy gets the accolades by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Eh, it's was not the fruit, it was the context in which it was used that was the problem.

    9. Re:Oh, sure, this guy gets the accolades by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      do you think that women who cannot take a joke are the only ones contemplating going into ITor that scenario is a good thing?

      You know, of the many women I've worked with in IT, I've successfully refrained from using a "touch my banana/penis joke" for the last 20 years.

      Are you seriously suggesting that the women who can't put up with childish assholes just don't apply?

      Because I have another solution .. grow the fuck up, and stop acting like a childish prat and pretending this shit is normal or something they should have to put up with.

      Are you people so hell bent on being idiots you think it's normal? Or are you aware you're idiots, and simply don't care?

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    10. Re:Oh, sure, this guy gets the accolades by sudon't · · Score: 1

      When I read the headline, I thought it going to be about rewarding employees for choosing good passwords. Perhaps you shouldn't try that, either.

      --
      -- sudon't

      Air-ride Equipped

  4. Indeed, oldest one in the book by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    "Touch my banana and you get wi-fi"

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  5. Correct board? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Seems like you'd want to use a banana Pi for this.

  6. Slow news day? by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So the banana's just a switch? It's not producing any randomness to feed into the key generation?

    Also, I don't see how they can't use the wifi from outside the building once they have the password. Unless they expire, which you can do without any fruit at all.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:Slow news day? by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So the banana's just a switch?

      Yes, it looks like it just replaces the WPS button.

      Also, I don't see how they can't use the wifi from outside the building once they have the password. Unless they expire, which you can do without any fruit at all.

      I'm assuming the controller is on a timer, which is fairly standard these days. The banana is merely a supposedly more fun way of pressing a button (yes lame in my opinion, but that's all you need to make the front page these days - and because Raspberry Pi!)

    2. Re:Slow news day? by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      8 hour guest access.

    3. Re: Slow news day? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The real news is some company is dumb enough to use WPS which is protected by a short number comparable to a PIN, and the fact that you have to press a button. And they make everyone press the button to connect.
      Easiest wifi intrusion ever. Wait for someone to press the button and brute force the PIN.

    4. Re: Slow news day? by Junta · · Score: 1

      It's not WPS. WPS would be disruptive to all other connectors. It's probably some random generated password changed daily or something like that for a guest SSID.

      It's a good way to get a story, though having a repurposed cell phone running dedicated app with 'touch to show password' would be more practical.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    5. Re:Slow news day? by LordKronos · · Score: 1

      So the banana's just a switch?

      Yes, it looks like it just replaces the WPS button.

      Nope, the banana actually serves a secondary function. This whole thing is so poorly described, but if you click the reddit link in the summary, and then from there click the link to the original thread:

      When you touch the banana, you get an 8 hour voucher for our guest wifi. (the 3 sec timeout is only for demoing)
      The PI has 5000, 8 hour vouchers. We are open ~200 days a year. If we have 10 guests a day, then this will work unattended for a couple of years easily.

      So the purpose of the banana is to make it so novel that (along with the absolute lack of adequate instructions on the board) people are repeatedly touching the banana over and over again (not really sure of what is going on), thus ensuring that those 5000 vouchers don't last a month.

  7. banana by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Man 1: I bet you $10 I can get Rachael to touch my banana.
    Man 2: You're on! ... 5 hours later
    Man 2: I thought you meant... never mind. Here's your $10.

  8. Electronics today. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 5, Interesting

    " The banana uses a special new circuit board from Makey Makey"

    Really? The Pi has GPIO pins, and you can't interface to a banana without a special new circuit board?

    You want a BS170 FET and a really high resistance pull-up/down, about 10M should do it. Two components, about 10p worth of parts, and a bit of wire.

    1. Re:Electronics today. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      So you complain about an external board with external components being used and so you propose a solution with an external board and external components?

      You deserve and internet cookie.

      But let's take this to a logical extension. You quite clearly know how a FET works, did you build your own computer out of transistors or did you buy a CPU and plug it in to your motherboard? You sound like you know about electronics, yet this guy was about to build something with 2 off the shelf components and a set of alligator clips. That's all we know. He may be an electrical engineer taking the ultra easy work, he may be software designer who's never touched electronics in his life.

      Yes the RPi has GPIO pins. No, the mere existence of them does not mean that everyone knows how to make electronics, can solder, or even know what a FET is. Cut the man some slack. (side note: If they have a decent touch algorithm in the board which it looks like they do then they'll easily outperform any simple electronics throw-together you can do with a simple FET and a resistor. There is a reason many commercial products opt for a dedicated touch controller rather than throw together a few components.)

    2. Re:Electronics today. by normaldotcom · · Score: 2

      For what it's worth, measuring capacitance via rise time on a GPIO pin is very challenging without an integrated comparator and fast GPIO. The Pi has no integral comparator and working with GPIO through the Linux kernel is always a bit laggy. A microcontroller is definitely a better tool for the job.

    3. Re:Electronics today. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      So that's how it works? Makes sense. I was just going to use a high-impedance input on a FET. Sensitive enough to detect the slight charge of a human body making contact. You just need a very weak pull to stop it registering every stray electrostatic field.

      If I were designing it to use the rise time method, I might do that on a few old-fashioned gate chips. 4000 series. But a microcontroller would probably be able to do it in a smaller part count.

    4. Re:Electronics today. by NotRightAway · · Score: 1

      Makey Makey do have another one which extrapolates your position in the universe from a small piece of fairy cake.

    5. Re:Electronics today. by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      " The banana uses a special new circuit board from Makey Makey"

      Really? The Pi has GPIO pins, and you can't interface to a banana without a special new circuit board?

      You want a BS170 FET and a really high resistance pull-up/down, about 10M should do it. Two components, about 10p worth of parts, and a bit of wire.

      Well, then you need a few diodes to protect the FET - a high impedance input is perfect for getting destroyed by ESD, and it's why CMOS logic needs ESD protection.

      So unless he adds ESD protection, he's probably going to be looking at replacing that circuit every couple of days or so.

      Then you have to debounce the contact - even through the lag of the Linux kernel, you can still get multiple "touches" because of contact bounce. I don't know if the RPi's GPIOs have ESD protection as well, but that would be necessary as well.

      Plus, the reliability of the whole thing needs to be tested and evaluated - will everyone be able to trigger it just once per touch (debounce, etc)? Or will some people have trouble activating it? And what if there's low-level EMI going on? Even after debouncing, there's a chance induced power line frequency may cause false touches, or if a user touches it, it cauess multiple triggers.

      And the system has to be reliable - chances are his USB thing would work and survive, while your cheap solution may require repairs and fixing every few days as well as a lot of software tweaks.

      If the USB adapter cost $20 or so, that extra effort isn't really worth it for a one-off project.

  9. One-banana problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It seems that the IT monkeys have solved a one-banana problem.

  10. Later on, he'll replace it with an orange by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ask users, "Orange you glad it's not another banana?"

  11. Re:Obstructionists are funny -- till next job revi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Let's see here, it sounds like his office has a policy where the wifi password changes every day and this solution provides a fun, quirky way to get the password quickly without having to hunt somebody down and you have a problem with it. You sound like you're a bore at parties. Lighten up, you'll live longer.

  12. Re:A Button. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

    The banana is a button. That's very juvenile. If someone in my office were to do this, I'd start loading them with enough "responsibilities" to make them leave.

    You mean the banana is a lie?

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  13. Clearly being used as a unit by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 1

    of standardized measure for length of password. Guy must be a Redditor.

    --
    "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
  14. I'll stay offline, thank you! by kimgkimg · · Score: 1

    I am NOT TOUCHING HIS BANANA!!! I'll stay offline, thank you!

  15. Re: inclusive SJW by tepples · · Score: 1

    Those are melons.

    Not to be confused with the password to the doors of Durin.

  16. Meanwhile... by Shoten · · Score: 4, Funny

    In Berlin, at the headquarters of "Sprockets," the sysadmin is using a monkey instead of a banana.

    --

    For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
  17. Mushroom stamp? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    Where I worked, they required a mushroom stamp. Not that there's anything wrong with that.