If you’ve a spare NES controller lying around, a lust for retro-security and the ability to use a soldering iron without fusing electronic components to your hands, step on up for this Nintendo Keyless Entry System Instructable. The inputs from the NES controller are processed by an Arduino, which decides whether or not to open the lock by virtue of its salvaged CD-ROM mechanism.
Video demo after the cut
A higher cost external drive or USB-based flash storage usually comes equipped with a encryption to protect its data against theft or loss of the drive. Unfortunately most of them only work conjunction in Windows platform; but not anymore, Sandisk has announced the Industry first Secure USB drive to fully support OS X system.
There have been a lot of problems caused by people bringing in storage devices from home to their workplace. While most people who do this bring in clean drives, others might bring in those with viruses or those that are improperly formatted. Things like this can cause problems on the network and pose a security risk. But with the new IEEE 1667 format standard, things should be getting better.
Reports yesterday that WPA had been partially cracked promptly began to spiral into talk of general router insecurity and the likelihood of bandwidth and data thieves roaming the streets. In actual fact, the incident is more a proof-of-concept than anything else, and could be argued as a flaw in a subsection of a section of WPA encryption. Ars Technica’s Glenn Fleishman has thrashed out the details – and exactly what we should be worried about.
If you’ve not already done so, prepare to ratchet your router security up to WPA2: the latest news from the tech security world is that researchers have figured out a way to at least partially crack WPA encryption. Set to be detailed in an academic journal in a few months time, the process is the work of Erik Tews and Martin Beck who figured out a way to get WPA-encrypted routers to send them a large chunk of data that can then – with the aid of a “mathematical breakthrough” – can be analyzed and used to break WPA’s TKIP key in just 12-15 minutes.
The USB-authenticated door lock project was based on a sensible theory – people carry around USB memory sticks, so why not use them instead of keys – but it forgot an essential fact about human nature: people are stupid, and forget stuff. Enter the completely-keyless door entry system, which uses a tapped-out pattern on a $3 touch-sensor to open the lock.
Video demo after the cut
Identity theft is no doubt a problem, but IBM is looking to help prevent some of it. In fact, the IBM Zurich lab has just come out with something called the Zone Trusted Information Channel (or ZTIC for short) that could help put a stop to identity theft in many cases, especially when it comes to bank transactions.
Managing to be even more intimidating in a flashlight casing than Wicked Lasers’ Spyder II GX, the PepperBall FlashLauncher incorporates not only a 100 lumen flashlight but semi-automatic firing of up to five individual pellets of hot pepper powder. Intended for law enforcement personnel as well as individuals, the FlashLauncher uses CO2 to launch the eye-stinging balls with a laser for targeting.
Video demo of the PepperBall FlashLauncher after the cut
You don’t have to be obsessive or a control-freak to want GPS tracking for your car: anybody with vaguely decent wheels who worries about theft has a vested interest in knowing that it’s stayed where they left it. Those, too, with teenage children could be excused for wanting to keep an eye on where they’re going and when. To those people, and more, Blackline offer the GPS Snitch, a compact, battery-powered tracking unit that allows remote monitoring through an online interface. SlashGear borrowed the car without asking our Mom first to see how well it works.
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