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Hackers Electrocute Selves in Quest to Turn Secure Doors from Outside

posted by on Tuesday November 22 2016, @12:50AM   Printer-friendly
from the "don't-tell-my-wife" dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Not every demo at security cons goes off without a hitch: Badass hackers Ryan and Jeremy electrocuted themselves when building what could have been the first device capable of wirelessly exploiting door-opening push buttons.

The pair demonstrated the trial and terror process of building the box at the Kiwicon hacking event in New Zealand last Friday.

Before its insides dissolved due to extreme heat, the device was capable of activating the push buttons that open doors to allow egress from secure buildings - but from the outside of that building.

Ryan and Jeremy's beefed-up electromagnet is the latest in a niche line of research which would allow attackers to enter buildings by using the devices to unlock the push-button door controls.

"I guess they really are touch-to-enter buttons," Jeremy told the 2,000 laughing hackers at the Michael Fowler centre, Wellington.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by bob_super on Tuesday November 22 2016, @02:50AM

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday November 22 2016, @02:50AM (#430994)

    You ain't a real electronics guy if you haven't felt the juice ... 120, 240, 380, ringing voltage, -72DC, pick your favorite.
    I started early by putting a 240V extension cord in my mouth. But my best spark was the output stage of a -48V DC supply (with the coke-can caps), which melted half of my multimeter probe and got the whole team scared (lesson: don't put grounded bare metal right next to -48V output screws).

    Power electronics was a fun lab, complete with people probing tri-phase with a scope probe (ground the phase, lose the lab fuse), and that one who wired the power transformer to the DC outlet instead of the AC one (lose the transformer, enjoy the show).

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Whoever on Tuesday November 22 2016, @03:13AM

    by Whoever (4524) on Tuesday November 22 2016, @03:13AM (#431004) Journal

    You ain't a real electronics guy if you haven't felt the juice ... 120, 240, 380, ringing voltage, -72DC, pick your favorite.

    380V: that's nothing. In my first job, I was working with 20 to 3kV on a laboratory bench. Fortunately the amount of current that could be drawn from these systems (high resistance in the source) was quite small, so the occasional shock was just a minor annoyance (and amusement for the people around me). It wasn't necessary to actually touch anything at that voltage since the voltage was high enough to spark over to a stray body part (usually a finger).

    • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday November 22 2016, @03:15AM

      by Whoever (4524) on Tuesday November 22 2016, @03:15AM (#431008) Journal

      Damn, typo.

      20kV to 30kV.

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday November 22 2016, @03:55AM

        by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Tuesday November 22 2016, @03:55AM (#431040) Homepage

        And such is the crux of the details of electronics braggarts: Voltage as a dick size is meaningless if type and current are not specified. bob_super was discussing DC voltage with an absolute value of lower than 120, but those power supplies are driving mad amperage, enough to kill. I guess that the supplies bob_super was talking about drive between 1 and 2 amps of current; and if they drive more, then lord help you.

        • (Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday November 22 2016, @05:28AM

          by sjames (2882) on Tuesday November 22 2016, @05:28AM (#431078) Journal

          In that case, don't go anywhere near the battery string for a datacenter UPS. Tools don't get scars, they explode.

          • (Score: 3, Informative) by coolgopher on Tuesday November 22 2016, @06:21AM

            by coolgopher (1157) on Tuesday November 22 2016, @06:21AM (#431089)

            A colleague at a former workplace told a tale of a spanner being pretty much vaporized when accidentally dropped on the 48V (or 72V?) bus-bar and shorting with the rack, before the whole telco DC went dark. Fortunately he managed to avoid the splash of molten metal, no idea how - it sounded very violent.

            • (Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday November 22 2016, @07:24AM

              by sjames (2882) on Tuesday November 22 2016, @07:24AM (#431113) Journal

              Batteries certainly command a new respect after seeing something like that. Fortunately, I have never had a first hand experience.

        • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday November 22 2016, @05:05PM

          by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday November 22 2016, @05:05PM (#431334)

          That -48V DC supply was for powering a telco shelf on the bench. Definitely north of 50A. I was told by the elders that it would keep providing stable DC until the 110V cord or wall outlet melted (before the 30A bench fuse, apparently).

    • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday November 22 2016, @07:22PM

      by isostatic (365) on Tuesday November 22 2016, @07:22PM (#431424) Journal

      since the voltage was high enough to spark over to a stray body part (usually a finger).

      The mind boggles at what other appendages you may have used!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 22 2016, @10:34PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 22 2016, @10:34PM (#431534)

    You mean 480?