Top hacker shows us how it's done | Pablos Holman | TEDxMidwest

Summary

In this engaging talk, the speaker, a hacker, demonstrates the vulnerabilities of everyday devices, including hotel TVs, Wi-Fi networks, and car key fobs, to highlight security flaws. He showcases inventive projects like 'Hackerbot' and 'Sniper Yagi', illustrating how easily data can be compromised. With humor, he also discusses the potential of applying hacking skills to solve global issues like malaria, showing a laser system that targets mosquitos, and emphasizing the need for a hacker mindset in science and technology.

Takeaways

• 😄 The speaker demonstrates how a hacker can manipulate a hotel room's television to access and control various functions, including free movie streaming and video games.
• 🔍 The speaker reveals the potential to spy on guests through the hotel TV system, highlighting the privacy risks associated with networked devices.
• 🤖 'Hackerbot' is introduced as a robot designed to locate Wi-Fi users, emphasizing the accessibility of personal data in public spaces.
• 🎯 The 'Sniper Yagi' device is showcased for its ability to intercept wireless signals from a mile away, underlining the vulnerability of Wi-Fi networks.
• 📱 A project with Ben Laurie is described, where Bluetooth traffic at a conference was logged to track attendees' movements, showcasing the feasibility of passive surveillance.
• 🗺️ The speaker humorously points out the ability to track Kim Cameron, a Microsoft executive, without his knowledge, illustrating the intrusiveness of surveillance techniques.
• 📞 A humorous anecdote about voicemail hacking is shared, emphasizing the ease with which everyday technology can be compromised.
• 👾 The MySpace 'Samy' worm is discussed as an example of how social engineering can lead to widespread security breaches.
• 🔐 The speaker discusses the potential for car key codes to be manipulated, raising concerns about the security of physical access systems.
• 🏠 The security of smart home devices, like locks, is questioned as the speaker demonstrates how easily a common lock can be picked with the right tools.
• 💳 The speaker warns about the security flaws in RFID-equipped credit cards, showing how they can be easily read from a distance.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of the speaker's talk?

The speaker's talk primarily focuses on the potential for hackers to exploit various technologies, including hotel televisions, wireless networks, and everyday devices, to gain unauthorized access and control. They also discuss the security implications of these vulnerabilities.

How does the speaker demonstrate the vulnerability of hotel televisions?

The speaker demonstrates the vulnerability of hotel televisions by using an infrared transceiver to send codes that the TV remote might send, enabling them to control the TV and access additional features such as free movies and games, and even spy on other guests' activities.

What is the 'Hackerbot' project mentioned in the script?

The 'Hackerbot' is a robot built by the speaker that can drive around and find Wi-Fi users, then drive up to them and display their passwords on a screen, illustrating the potential for hackers to uncover sensitive information.

What is the 'Sniper Yagi' and its purpose?

The 'Sniper Yagi' is a long-range password sniffing device that can monitor wireless networks from about a mile away, used to demonstrate the passive surveillance capabilities of hackers.

How did the speaker track Bluetooth traffic at the 'Computers, Freedom and Privacy' conference?

The speaker placed a computer in each room of the conference that logged all the Bluetooth traffic. By correlating this data, they were able to create a map showing the movements and interactions of conference attendees.

What is the significance of the speaker's MySpace story involving Samy and Christopher Abad?

The speaker uses the MySpace stories to illustrate how hackers can exploit social media platforms for personal gain, such as automatically adding friends to increase popularity or using AI to filter potential dating prospects.

How does the speaker demonstrate the insecurity of car key fobs?

The speaker shows that by manipulating the key fob's code, it is possible to open every car from a specific manufacturer, highlighting the lack of security in these systems.

What is the Schlage lock demonstration about?

The Schlage lock demonstration is about how easily a lock can be picked using a simple tool and a mallet, emphasizing the vulnerability of common security measures.

What is the purpose of the USB thumb drive mentioned in the script?

The USB thumb drive mentioned in the script is a device that, while appearing to be a regular storage device, secretly makes a backup of sensitive data from the host computer, such as documents, browser history, and password databases.

How does the speaker expose the vulnerabilities of RFID credit cards?

The speaker exposes the vulnerabilities of RFID credit cards by demonstrating how easily the card's information can be read by a nearby device, showing that the 'secure' cards are not as secure as they claim to be.

What is the speaker's stance on the mindset of hackers?

The speaker views the hacker mindset as being highly valuable for discovery and innovation. They argue that hackers are optimized for figuring out what's possible and can apply this mindset to solving significant problems in science and technology.

What project is the speaker working on to combat malaria?

The speaker is working on a project that uses a laser system to track and eliminate mosquitos, particularly those carrying malaria. The system uses consumer electronics to detect, identify, and destroy the mosquitos, with the goal of reducing the spread of malaria.

Outlines

00:00

😲 Hacking Hotel Rooms for Fun and Surveillance

The speaker, a hacker, demonstrates how to exploit the television in a hotel room as a node on a network. By using an infrared transceiver, they can control the TV to watch movies for free, play games, and even spy on other guests' TVs. They can observe sensitive activities like online banking and personal data. The speaker also introduces 'Hackerbot', a robot designed to locate Wi-Fi users and display their passwords, and the 'Sniper Yagi', a device for long-range password sniffing. They discuss a project mapping Bluetooth traffic at a conference to track attendees' movements and interactions, highlighting privacy concerns in public spaces.

05:04

😅 Creative Hacking: From MySpace to Car Keys

The speaker shares stories of hackers using creative methods for social engineering. One hacker, Christopher Abad, used a spam filter to sort potential MySpace dates based on past experiences. Another example involves car key hacking, where a device can be used to open any car from a specific manufacturer. The speaker emphasizes the increasing connectivity of everyday devices, like cars and toasters, which brings new security challenges akin to those faced by PCs. They also demonstrate a simple method to pick a common lock using a 'magic key' and a mallet, and offer to give away a keychain that can open many locks, highlighting the vulnerabilities in physical security systems.

10:04

🛒 Security Flaws in Modern Technology

The speaker discusses various security vulnerabilities in everyday technology. They demonstrate how easy it is to hack into USB thumb drives to steal personal data, and how new 'secure' credit cards with RFID chips can be read by simple devices. They also touch on the security of online transactions protected by SSL, showing how hackers can exploit weaknesses in the protocol. The speaker concludes with a call to action for hackers to use their skills to solve major global problems like malaria, suggesting that the same mindset used for hacking can be applied to scientific discovery and innovation.

15:06

🦟 Innovative Solutions to Global Problems: Mosquitos and Malaria

The speaker shifts from discussing hacking to showcasing innovative solutions to global problems, using malaria as an example. They describe how their lab at Intellectual Ventures is developing a laser system to kill mosquitos, particularly the species that carry malaria. The system uses components from consumer electronics and can identify and target specific mosquitos based on their wing beat frequency. The speaker shows a video of the system in action, successfully tracking and 'vaporizing' mosquitos in real-time. They emphasize the potential of this technology to protect humans and crops from mosquito-borne diseases.

Keywords

💡Hacker

A hacker, in the context of the video, refers to an individual with advanced computer skills who uses these skills to exploit vulnerabilities in computer systems or networks for various purposes, often unauthorized. The video discusses how a hacker can manipulate hotel room televisions, access personal data, and control other devices, illustrating the potential risks and creative uses of hacking skills.

💡Infrared transceiver

An infrared transceiver is a device that sends and receives infrared signals. In the video, it is used by a hacker to emulate a TV remote control, allowing them to control the television in a hotel room. This demonstrates how everyday devices can be hacked to perform unintended functions.

💡Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a wireless networking technology that allows devices to connect to the internet or communicate with each other wirelessly. The video mentions the use of a 'Hackerbot' to find Wi-Fi users and 'Sniper Yagi' for long-range password sniffing, highlighting the security vulnerabilities in Wi-Fi networks.

💡Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances. The video describes a project where Bluetooth traffic was logged in a conference to track attendees' movements and interactions, showcasing how Bluetooth signals can be intercepted and used for surveillance.

💡MySpace

MySpace is a social networking service that was popular for connecting with friends and meeting new people. The video references how hackers exploited MySpace's friend system by writing scripts to automatically add friends and manipulate user profiles, demonstrating the potential for social engineering on social media platforms.

💡RFID

RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification, a technology used in contactless systems like credit cards and keyless entry systems. The video discusses the security flaws in RFID-enabled credit cards, where hackers can read and potentially clone the data, indicating the risks associated with RFID technology.

💡Laser

A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification. In the video, the speaker discusses a project where lasers are used to target and eliminate mosquitos, particularly those carrying malaria. This innovative use of lasers highlights the potential for technology to address global health issues.

💡Moore's Law

Moore's Law is the observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles approximately every two years, leading to faster and cheaper electronics. The video mentions that the mosquito-killing laser system is built from consumer electronics that follow Moore's Law, suggesting that such technology can become increasingly affordable and accessible.

💡Malaria

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitos. The video discusses the work being done at the Intellectual Ventures Lab to combat malaria, including the development of a laser system to kill mosquitos, emphasizing the role of technology in addressing global health challenges.

💡SSL

SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, is a standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a server and a client. The video references SSL as part of the encryption system in web browsers that protect sensitive data like credit card information. The speaker also discusses how hackers attempt to exploit vulnerabilities in SSL protocols, indicating the ongoing battle between security measures and hacking attempts.

💡Hacking mindset

The hacking mindset refers to the approach of thinking creatively and critically to discover and exploit vulnerabilities or to innovate and solve complex problems. The video emphasizes the importance of this mindset in both the hacking community and scientific research, where it is applied to tackle challenges like malaria and develop novel solutions.

Highlights

A hacker can control a hotel room's television remotely using an infrared transceiver.

The speaker can watch movies for free and play video games by hacking into the hotel TV system.

It's possible to control another guest's TV and monitor their activities in the hotel room.

The 'Hackerbot' is a robot designed to find Wi-Fi users and display their passwords.

The 'Sniper Yagi' is a device for long-range password sniffing, capable of monitoring wireless networks from a mile away.

A project with Ben Laurie involved mapping conference attendees' movements and interactions using Bluetooth tracking.

The speaker demonstrated the ability to track Kim Cameron, Microsoft's Chief Privacy Architect, without his knowledge.

A humorous phone call scenario where the speaker pretends to access someone's voicemail.

A MySpace user named Samy used JavaScript to automatically add visitors as friends, quickly amassing over a million friends.

Christopher Abad used a spam filter to analyze MySpace profiles and suggest potential dates.

Car thieves can use remote key fobs to open and steal cars, highlighting a security flaw.

The speaker suggests that as more devices become computerized, they inherit the security issues of PCs.

A Schlage lock can be easily picked with a simple technique, undermining its perceived security.

USB thumb drives can be rigged to secretly back up data from any computer they are plugged into.

New credit cards with RFID chips can be easily read by hackers, compromising card details.

The speaker proposes using hackers' skills to solve complex scientific problems, like malaria.

A high-speed camera is used to study mosquito flight patterns, which could lead to new methods of mosquito control.

A laser system is being developed to automatically detect and kill mosquitoes, potentially helping to combat malaria.

The Intellectual Ventures Lab works on innovative solutions to some of humanity's most pressing problems.

Transcripts

Transcriber: Bob Prottas Reviewer: Ariana Bleau Lugo

So this is a hotel room, kind of like the one I'm staying in.

I get bored sometimes.

A room like this has not a lot to offer for entertainment.

But for a hacker, it gets a little interesting because that television

is not like the television in your home,

it's a node on a network. Right?

That means I can mess with it.

If I plug a little device like this into my computer,

it's an infrared transceiver, I can send the codes that

the TV remote might send and some other codes.

So what? Well, I can watch movies for free.

(Laughter)

That doesn't matter to me so much, but I can play video games too.

Hey, but what's this?

I can not only do this for my TV in my hotel room,

I can control your TV in your hotel room.

(Laughter)

So I can watch you if you're checking out with one of these,

you know, TV based registration things,

if you're surfing the web on your hotel TV,

I can watch you do it.

Sometimes it's interesting stuff.

Funds transfer.

Really big funds transfers.

You never know what people might want to do

while they're surfing the web from their hotel room.

(Laughter)

The point is I get to decide if you're watching Disney or porn tonight.

Anybody else staying at the Affinia hotel?

(Laughter)

This is a project I worked on when we were trying to figure out

the security properties of wireless networks; it's called the "Hackerbot".

This is a robot we've built that can drive around and find Wi-Fi users,

drive up to them and show them their passwords on the screen.

(Laughter)

We just wanted to build a robot,

but we didn't know what to make it do, so -

We made the pistol version of the same thing.

This is called the "Sniper Yagi".

It's for your long-range password sniffing action,

about a mile away I can watch your wireless network.

This is a project I worked on with Ben Laurie to show passive surveillance.

So what it is, is a map of the conference called

"Computers, Freedom and Privacy".

And this conference was in a hotel, and what we did is we,

you know, put a computer in each room of the conference

that logged all the Bluetooth traffic.

So as everybody came and went with their phones and laptops

we were able to just log that, correlate it,

and then I can print out a map like this for everybody at the conference.

This is Kim Cameron, the Chief Privacy Architect at Microsoft.

(Laughter)

Unbeknownst to him,

I got to see everywhere he went.

And I can correlate this and show who he hangs out with

(phone dialing) when he got bored,

(phone dialing) hangs out in the lobby with somebody.

Anybody here use cellphones?

(Laughter)

(Phone ringing)

So my phone is calling -

(Ringing)

calling -

Voice mail: You have 100 messages.

Palbos Holman: Uh oh!

VM: First unheard message -

PH: Where do I press -

VM: Message skipped. First skipped message.

PH: Uh oh!

VM: Main menu. To listen to your - You have pressed an incorrect key -

You have two skipped messages. Three saved messages.

Goodbye.

PH: Uh oh! So we're in Brad's voice mail.

(Laughter)

And I was going to record him a new message,

but I seem to have pressed an invalid key,

so we're going to move on.

And I'll explain how that works some other day because we're short on time.

Anybody here used MySpace?

MySpace users? Oh!

Used to be popular. It's kind of like Facebook.

This guy, a buddy of ours Samy, was trying to meet chicks on MySpace

which I think is what it used to be good for.

And what he did is he had a page on MySpace about him.

It lists all your friends, and that's how you know

somebody's cool is that they have a lot of friends on MySpace.

Well, Samy didn't have any friends.

He wrote a little bit of Javascript code that he put in his page,

so that whenever you look at his page

it would just automagically add you as his friend.

And it would skip the whole acknowledgement response protocol

saying "Is Samy really your friend?"

But then it would copy that code onto your page,

so that whenever anybody looked at your page

it would automatically add them as Samy's friend too.

(Laughter)

And it would change your page to say that "Samy is your hero."

(Laughter)

So in under 24 hours, Samy had over a million friends on MySpace.

(Laughter)

Hey, he just finished serving 3-years probation for that.

(Laughter)

Even better, Christopher Abad, this guy, another hacker,

also trying to meet chicks on MySpace but having spotty results.

Some of these dates didn't work out so well,

so what Abad did is he wrote a little bit of code

to connect MySpace to Spam Assassin, which is an open source spam filter.

It works just like the spam filter in your email.

You train it by giving it some spam

train it by giving it a little bit of legitimate email,

and it tries to use artificial intelligence

to work out the difference. Right?

Well, he just trained it on profiles from girls he dated and liked

as legitimate email.

Profiles from girls he dated and not liked, as spam,

and then ran it against every profile on MySpace.

(Laughter)

Out spits girls you might like to date.

What I say about Abad is, I think, there's like three startups here.

I don't know why we need Match.com, when we can have Spam dating?

You know this is innovation.

He's got a problem, he found a solution.

Does anybody use these - bleep - keys for opening your car remotely?

They're popular in, well, maybe not Chicago, OK.

So kids these days will drive through a Wal-Mart parking lot

clicking open, open, open, bloop.

Eventually you find another Jetta or whatever just like yours,

maybe a different color, that uses the same key code.

Kids will just loot it, lock it up and go.

Your insurance company will roll over on you

because there's not evidence of a break-in.

For one manufacturer we figured out how to manipulate that key

so that it will open every car from that manufacturer.

(Laughter)

There is a point to be made about this which I barely have time for,

but it's that your car is now a PC, your phone is also a PC,

your toaster, if it is not a PC, soon will be. Right?

And I'm not joking about that.

And the point of that is that when that happens

you inherit all the security properties and problems of PC's.

And we have a lot of them.

So keep that in mind, we can talk more about that later.

Anybody use a lock like this on your front door?

OK, good.

I do too.

This is a Schlage lock.

It's on half of the front doors in America.

I brought one to show you.

So this is my Schlage lock.

This is a key that fits the lock, but isn't cut right, so it won't turn it.

Anybody here ever tried to pick locks with tools like this?

All right, got a few, few nefarious lock pickers.

Well, it's for kids with OCD.

You've got to put them in there, and finick with them,

spend hours getting the finesse down to manipulate the pins.

You know, for the ADD kids in the house there's an easier way.

I put my little magic key in here,

I put a little pressure on there to turn it, (Tapping)

smack it a few times with this special mallet

and I just picked the lock. We're in.

It's easy.

And in fact, I don't really know much more about this than you do.

It's really, really easy.

I have a keychain I made of the same kind of key

for every other lock in America.

And if you're interested, I bought a key machine

so that I can cut these keys and I made some for all of you guys.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

So my gift to you, come afterwards and I will show you

how to pick a lock and give you one of these keys

you can take home and try it on your door.

Anybody used these USB thumb drives?

Yeah, print my Word document, yeah!

They're very popular.

Mine works kind of like yours. You can print my Word document for me.

But while you're doing that, invisibly and magically in the background

it's just making a handy backup of your My Documents folder,

and your browser history and cookies and your registry and password database,

and all the things that you might need someday if you have a problem.

So we just like to make these things and litter them around at conferences.

(Laughter)

Anybody here use credit cards?

(Laughter)

Oh, good!

Yeah, so they're popular and wildly secure.

(Laughter)

Well, there's new credit cards that you might have gotten in the mail

with a letter explaining how it's your new "Secure credit card".

Anybody get one of these?

You know it's secure because it has a chip in it, an RFID tag,

and you can use these in Taxicabs and at Starbucks,

I brought one to show you, by just touching the reader.

Has anybody seen these before?

Okay, who's got one?

Bring it on up here.

(Laughter)

There's a prize in it for you.

I just want to show you some things we learned about them.

I got this credit card in the mail.

I really do need some volunteers, in fact, I need

one, two, three, four, five volunteers because the winners

are going to get these awesome stainless steel wallets

that protect you against the problem that you guessed, I'm about to demonstrate.

Bring your credit card up here and I'll show you.

I want to try it on one of these awesome new credit cards.

OK.

Do we have a conference organizer,

somebody who can coerce people into cooperating?

(Laughing)

It's by your own volition because -

This is where the demo gets really awesome

I know you guys have never seen -

(Inaudible question)

What's that?

They're really cool wallets made of stainless steel.

Anybody else seen code on screen at TED before?

Yeah, this is pretty awesome.

(Laughter)

OK, great I got volunteers.

So who has one of these exciting credit cards?

OK, here we go.

I'm about to share your credit card number

only to 350 close friends.

Hear the beep?

That means someone's hacking your credit card.

OK, what did we get?

Valued customer and the credit card number and expiration date.

It turns out your secure new credit card is not totally secure.

Anybody else want to try yours while you're here?

Man: Can you install overdraft protection?

PH: Beep, let's see what we got?

So we bitched about this and AMEX changed it,

so it doesn't show the name anymore.

Which is progress. You can see mine, if it shows it.

Yeah, it shows my name on it, that's what my Mom calls me anyway.

Yours doesn't have it.

Anyway, so next time you get something in the mail

that says it's secure, send it to me.

(Laughter)

Oh wait, one of these is empty, hold on.

I think this is the one, yep, here you go.

You get the one that's disassembled.

All right, cool.

(Applause)

I still have a few minutes yet left, so I'm going to make a couple of points.

(Laughter)

Oh, shit.

That's my subliminal messaging campaign. It was supposed to be much faster.

Here's the most exciting slide ever shown at TED.

This is the protocol diagram for SSL,

which is the encryption system in your web browser

that protects your credit card when you're sending it to Amazon and so on.

Very exciting, I know, but the point is

hackers will attack every point in this protocol, right?

I'm going to send two responses when the server's expecting one.

I'm going to send a zero when it's expecting a one.

I'm going to send twice as much data as it's expecting.

I'm going to take twice as long answering as it's expecting.

Just try a bunch of stuff. See where it breaks.

See what falls in my lap.

When I find a hole like that then I can start looking for an exploit.

This is a little more what SSL looks like to hackers, that's really boring.

This guy kills a million Africans a year.

It's Anopheles stephensi mosquito carrying malaria.

Is this the wrong talk?

(Laughter)

This is a protocol diagram for malaria.

So what we're doing in our lab is attacking this protocol

at every point we can find.

It has a very complex life cycle that I won't go into now,

but it spends some time in humans, some time in mosquitos

and what I need are hackers.

Because hackers have a mind that's optimized for discovery.

They have a mind that's optimized for figuring out what's possible.

You know, I often illustrate this by saying,

If you get some random new gadget and show it to your Mom,

she might say, "Well, what does this do?" And you'd say "Mom, it's a phone."

And instantly, she'd would know exactly what it's for.

But with a hacker, the question is different.

The question is, "What can I make this do?"

I'm going to take all the screws out, and take the back off,

and break it into a lot of little pieces.

But then I'm going to figure out what I can build from the rubble.

That's discovery, and we need to do that in science and technology

to figure out what's possible.

And so in the lab what I'm trying to do is apply that mindset

to some of the biggest problems humans have.

We work on malaria, thanks to Bill Gates, who asked us to work on it.

This is how we used to solve malaria.

This is a real ad from like the 40's.

We eradicated malaria in the US by spraying DDT everywhere.

In the lab what we do is a lot of work to try and understand the problem.

This is a high-speed video, we have a badass video camera,

trying to learn how mosquitos fly.

And you can see that they're more like swimming in air.

We actually have no idea how they fly.

But we have a cool video camera so we -

(Laughter)

Yeah, it cost more than a Ferrari.

Anyway we came up with some ways to take care of mosquitos.

Let's shoot them down with laser beams.

This is what happens when you put one of every kind of scientist in a room

and a laser junky.

So people thought it was funny at first,

but we figured out, you know, we can build this out of consumer electronics.

It's using the CCD from a webcam,

the laser from a Blu-ray burner,

the laser galvo is from a laser printer.

We do motion detection on a GPU processor

like you might find in video game system.

It's all stuff that follows Moore's law.

So it's actually not going to be that expensive to do it.

The idea is that we would put

a perimeter of these laser systems around a building or a village

and just shoot all the mosquitos on their way in to feed on humans.

And we might want to do that for your backyard.

We could also do it to protect crops.

Our team is right now working on

characterizing what they need to do the same thing for

the pest that has wiped out about two thirds

of the Orange groves in Florida.

So people laughed at first.

This is a video of our system working.

We are tracking mosquitos live as they fly around.

Those crosshairs are put there by our computer.

It just watches them, finds them moving

and then it aims a laser at them to sample their wing beat frequency.

Figure out from that, is this a mosquito?

Is it Anopheles Stephensi? Is it female?

And if all that's true then we shoot it down with lethal laser.

(Laughter)

So we have this working in a lab.

We're working on taking that project into the field now.

All this happens at the Intellectual Ventures Lab in Seattle where I work

and we try and take on some of the hardest problems that humans have.

This is the money shot.

You can see we just burned his wing off with a UV laser.

He's not coming back.

(Applause)

Kind of vaporized his wing right there, yeah.

They love it. I mean, you know.

Never got called by PETA or anyone else.

I mean, it's the perfect enemy.

There's just no one coming to the rescue of mosquitos.

Sometimes we overdo it.

So anyway, I'm going to get off stage.

This is the Intellectual Ventures Lab where I work.

Basically we use every kind of scientist

and one of every tool in the world to work on crazy invention projects.

Thanks.

(Applause)