{"id":222391,"date":"2017-07-31T14:55:49","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T12:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=222391"},"modified":"2017-07-31T14:59:39","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T12:59:39","slug":"coolest-hacks-from-def-con-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/222391-coolest-hacks-from-def-con-2017.html","title":{"rendered":"Coolest hacks from DEF CON 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

DEF CON 25<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0took place this past weekend and featured hackers from around the world exploring and discussing the latest advances in cybersecurity.<\/p>\n

The conference – in Las Vegas from 27-30 July – was host to numerous events, including hacking demos, workshops, and entertainment.<\/p>\n

Demonstrations at DEF CON often consist of hacking real-world products or networks and these experiments generally receive a lot of media coverage, due to their implications for the companies involved.<\/p>\n

We’ve listed several of the coolest hacks from DEF CON 2017 below.<\/p>\n

\n

Safe-cracking robot<\/h3>\n

The SparkFun Electronics team was able to open a locked SentrySafe<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0safe in around 30 minutes during its presentation.<\/p>\n

The hackers used a custom-built robot which cost $200 to construct and consisted of 3D-printed parts.<\/p>\n

The robot assessed one of the three dials in the analogue combination safe and detected its size and indents.<\/p>\n

As the correct indent was slightly larger than the rest, the robot was able to identify the correct third number in the combination in 20 seconds.<\/p>\n

Determining the remaining numbers was then a case of the robot trying different combinations.<\/p>\n

\"Combination<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Voting machines compromised<\/h3>\n

DEF CON 25 held a specialised event targeting vulnerabilities in voting machines used in the US.<\/p>\n

According to a report by CNET<\/strong><\/a>, the devices featured a host of flaws, including unsecure passwords and out-of-date operating systems.<\/p>\n

Voting machines from a number of manufacturers were hacked, with participants able to compromise the devices wirelessly by exploiting an issue with their Wi-Fi security.<\/p>\n

The devices can also reportedly be hacked in about five seconds by connecting a USB drive to the machine.<\/p>\n

\"Voting\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Security card cloning<\/h3>\n

Houston Are Hackers Anonymous founder Dennis Maldonado gave a presentation about real-time RFID card cloning at DEF CON 25, reported\u00a0Mashable<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The attack required a rig which allows an attacker to scan an RFID card wirelessly while standing close to the target.<\/p>\n

The scanner then sends the data to a cloning machine up to 10 metres away and a copy of the card is created.<\/p>\n

The setup is easy to use, and includes an Android app which notifies the scanner if the target card was successfully scanned.<\/p>\n

This attack allows hackers to create a copy of an RFID card without the holder’s knowledge, and can then use it to circumvent security checkpoints.<\/p>\n

\"RFID<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Apple Watch jailbreak<\/h3>\n

The event was also home to the first Apple Watch jailbreak.<\/p>\n

According to WCCFTech<\/strong><\/a>, a hacker named Max Bazaliy demonstrated the jailbreak on an Apple Watch running watchOS 3.<\/p>\n

A jailbroken Apple Watch can reportedly provide users with access to call records, health data, messages, emails, GPS location, and more.<\/p>\n

Jailbreaking devices also allows users to modify their software without being limited by built-in restrictions.<\/p>\n

The jailbreak was private and has not been released to the public.<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Now read:\u00a0Meet one of South Africa\u2019s top professional hackers<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DEF CON 25 took place this past weekend and featured hackers from around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341028,"featured_media":160024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[44999,461,35],"class_list":["post-222391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-def-con-2017","tag-hacking","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222391"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341028"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222405,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222391\/revisions\/222405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}