The Tim Ferriss Show #74: How a Computer Hacker Optimizes Online Dating, Opens Locked Cars, and Hijacks Drones
Demonstrate USB Trust Failures
- Carry a tiny programmable USB device to demonstrate USB/keyboard trust failures quickly.
- Use it to show how a keyboard device can execute commands and redirect network traffic in seconds.
Toys Reveal Hidden RF Attack Surfaces
- Cheap consumer toys can contain radio chips far more capable than intended and reveal unexpected attack surfaces.
- Invisible wireless channels often feel safe, but they let attackers listen, replay, and emulate car/key signals.
Reverse Engineer RF Key Signals
- Analyze radio transmissions over time to spot fixed and rolling components of key signals.
- Compare repeated presses to identify per-car identifiers and determine if replay or rolling-code protections exist.
Samy Kamkar is one of the most innovative and notorious computer hackers in the United States. He’s also a well-known whistleblower. If you want how Samy hacks everything from online dating to car alarms, this episode is for you. He is best known for creating the fastest spreading virus of all time, a MySpace worm named “Samy.” He got raided by the United States Secret Service for that one. More recently, he’s created SkyJack, a custom drone that hacks into any nearby drones, allowing him (or any operator) to control a swarm of devices; and Evercookie, which appeared in top-secret NSA documents revealed by Edward Snowden. He also discovered illicit mobile phone tracking by Apple iPhone, Google Android and Microsoft Windows Phone mobile devices, which were transmitting GPS and Wi-Fi information to their parent companies. His research and findings led to a series of class-action lawsuits against these companies and a privacy hearing on Capitol Hill. To see Samy help me hack my online dating, check out the “Dating Game” TV episode here: http://itunes.com/timferriss Here is Samy’s site (http://samy.pl/), his outstanding YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4m2G6T18_JcjwxwtwKJijw), and his Twitter (https://twitter.com/samykamkar). This episode is brought to you by two companies I use myself: 99Designs — http://99designs.com/tim Mizzen & Main — http://mizzenandmain.com/collections/tim Enjoy!
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