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Alarm System Defeated By $2 Wireless Dongle, Nobody Surprised
The item in question is the SimpliSafe alarm system, a fully wireless, install-it-yourself system available online and from various big-box retailers. We’ve covered the system’s deeply flawed security model before, whereby SDRs can be used to execute a low-effort replay attack. As simple as that exploit is, it looks positively elegant next to [LockPickingLawyer]’s brute-force attack, which uses a $2 RF remote as a jammer for the 433-MHz wireless signal between sensors and the base unit.
With the remote in close proximity to the system, he demonstrates how easy it would be to open a door or window and enter a property guarded by SimpliSafe without leaving a trace. Yes, a little remote probably won’t jam the system from a distance, but a cheap programmable dual-band transceiver like those offered by Baofeng would certainly do the trick. Not being a licensed amateur operator, [LockPickingLawyer] didn’t test this, but we doubt thieves would have the respect for the law that an officer of the court does.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Monday August 26 2019, @07:29PM (2 children)
If you have a house without an existing system, and you don't want to pull cables to every window and door, you go wireless. However, wireless systems are fundamentally unreliable.
If contact is lost to a sensor, the controller must make a decision: trigger the alarm, or not. If it does not, then the system can be bypassed as described in TFS. If it does trigger an alarm, you will go nuts from false-positives: every time you have a thunderstorm, and every time that someone with a strong emitter (intentional, or maybe just defective) drives by your house.
In the end, for most people it's really more about deterrence than anything else. If you have a system, and your neighbor doesn't, it's easier to break into the neighbor's house. With this in mind, the most cost-effective security system you can buy is probably just a fake sign [safewise.com].
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 26 2019, @07:55PM (1 child)
A lot of that could be mitigated by having a short delay before triggering for lack of response. How long are those transient problems anyways? What's more things like cameras are mostly a privacy problem if they fire too often.
I considered getting one of these systems, but it became obvious within minutes of researching them that they're simply no good. They may deter the seriously interrupt burglars, but most will just bypass it or ignore it as they're often in and out in minutes for specific items.
When my brother's place was broken into, they were looking for something very specific and didn't even touch the cash sitting in plain sight in a table. I'm guessing they wanted guns or medicine as none of his valuables were stolen.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday August 27 2019, @02:29AM
How long your neighbour runs a brushed electrical motor at high RPM? (something like a cheap Chinese equiv of a Dremel)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford