The device that can hack (almost) everything – 03/10/2024 – Ronaldo Lemos

Cybersecurity is one of the most important issues in the world today. It is also one of the most ignored topics by most people (and companies). Our tendency is to “trust” the devices around us, assuming that they are safe and thinking that someone is taking care of everything’s safety. I’m mistaken.

To overturn this naive trust with both feet in the door, a US company launched a device four years ago that is capable of testing and hacking the security of much of the equipment around us. The name of the device will be omitted, as what is important is the debate it generates and not the product itself.

The device fits in the palm of your hand, costs less than R$1,000 and is capable of interacting with most of the devices around us. For example, digital keys of all types, including vehicles, garage doors, electronic locks, etc. Using the device it is possible to read the signals emitted by the key and record them. It is then possible to reproduce them, which may allow opening a vehicle, a digital lock or a gate, depending on the security structure implemented.

In this sense, the device can clone a hotel room key. All you had to do was bring the key closer to the device. It can then reproduce its signal next to the sensor, effectively opening the door.

The same can be done with remote controls. You can basically read and reproduce the signal from any control on the market, allowing you to turn on and off TVs, air conditioning or anything controlled by infrared.

It is also possible to read chips and tags with RFID (radio frequency identification), an increasingly common technology. You can read a credit card chip, obtaining the card number. However, the device cannot clone the card because it cannot read your password or private verification code.

In a recent interview, the president of the company that makes this device said: “our product is not the most sophisticated on the market. On the contrary, its objective is to raise awareness that many things we use are not safe. If something can be hacked by our device is a sign that it is outdated in terms of security.”

“Several companies are marketing their digital products today saying that they can no longer be hacked by our device. That’s what we wanted, that’s our philosophy,” he added.

In Brazil, the device was banned from sale by Anatel. In the USA it remains legal and can be purchased online.

Anatel’s attitude is paternalistic. Despite having the noble intention of protecting people against malicious uses, the result is the opposite: it keeps many people in a false security bubble and relieves companies, who know that their products are vulnerable and outdated, from the urgent need to correct the problem.

After all, it is not the device that creates security flaws. He just reveals them. And unfortunately, there are much more powerful tools that can be purchased by crooks. Often the best way to learn something is to see, in practice, how things (don’t) work.

It’s over –virus only as a health problem

Already –viruses on computers

It’s coming –viruses in artificial intelligence

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