Resources

People often ask me "How did you learn how to hack?" The answer: by reading. This page is a collection of the blog posts and other articles that I have accumulated over the years of my journey. Enjoy!

This is a hands-on hardware hacking workshop. The creator of this has been hacking on hardware for years, has ALL of the tools and loves to share his knowledge. Instead of forgetting what I learned, I thought it would be wise to write it down somewhere.

Here is the guys philosophy:

• Identify Parts on the board
• Find datasheets for these boards
• Find potential attacks
• Do the attacks

When identifying chips on the board, there tends to be a logo for the brand and an serial identifier. The first few alphanumeric characters represent the brand (Atmel, Intel, etc.). The next set of characters represent the specific chip by the brand. Finally, the ending is to track the manufacture location. As a result, too many characters in the search will actual ruin it!

Another question: once you find the datasheet, how do you know the direction? There are multiple ways!

• Labeled with a '1' on the PCB.
• Indent dot on the corner.
• On chip with pins on only one side, the half circle indent and below the text.
• If there is only text, it is likely on the bottom left cover.

When batteries die, they go below their voltage threshold. For instance, a 9 volt battery can go to 90% of 9 (8.1 volts) before it stops working. I always thought that all of the juice left the battery. But, only 10% is actually used!

JTAG is a universal debugging protocol with amazing capabilities, such as data dumping and debugging capabilities. When a board is being manufactured, it needs to be tested. The most common way to test the board is over JTAG and with test points. It is common for the JTAG to be left on on many devices. But, it may have seemingly random pins around, making it hard to find.

If you see huge capacitors or resistors, it is likely for the power regulation and not super useful for pwning.

Overall, the creator of this workshop is incredibly knowledgeable with great war stories. I am excited to go back and learn more from the guy.