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ProxyHam Project and Def Con Talk Canceled Under Questionable Circumstances

posted by n1 on Tuesday July 14 2015, @05:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the we-can't-have-nice-things dept.

Anonymous Coward writes:

ProxyHam was a device that would let you share internet over traditional radio frequencies, enabling a user to be miles from the actual internet connection. A good tool for anonymity. It was supposed to be featured at Def Con, but has suddenly been shut down. All devices have been destroyed, no details will be released, according to the twitter of Rhino Security, the company behind the device.

This is possibly a National Security Letter, but due to their nature it's pretty hard to get that confirmed.

So if patents were not a problem, and if the FCC wasn't a problem - as confirmed by Caudill himself, why was this tool forced out of the public's reach? We may never know.

[...] For the record, I asked Caudill about getting a NSL, Caudill would only answer, "No comment."

I'd like to know what the commenters think. Was this actually rubbish like the AnonaBox and is this their elegant way to bow out? Or was this actually a solution that worked, and hence got shut down? Considering the fact these dudes wanted to demonstrate it at Def Con, it appears pretty legitimate.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday July 14 2015, @06:30PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday July 14 2015, @06:30PM (#209028) Journal

    They claim a range of miles. I wonder if the FCC had something to say about spectrum/signal strength.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @07:59PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @07:59PM (#209061)

    No encryption over HAM radio frequencies.

    While I can't remember the details, I believe 2.4/5.8 were explicit exemptions when the 802.11b predecessor protocols started becoming popular.

    Given the transmisison power/range these devices touted and the fact that they were operating in ISM bands which AFAIK still have the HAM encryption restrictions in place, I assume the takedown happened on account of that, possibly through a non-FCC source (Like via a politely worded letter from the American HAM branch explaining what sort of hassle this little project was/would cause for them.)

    I still can't believe 20 years on there are amateurs like this going to DefCon peddling half-baked shit for money. But then again that was at least half of what DefCon was the last time I visited. The rest was legitimate security research, but more often drunken douches trying to one up each other. Sounds kinda like a frat party, only for nerds.