Vulnerability Focus: Hacking with Food

In last week's Vulnerability Focus I talked about hacking with photos. This week I will be discussing hacking with food. More specifically, Pita bread.

How does anyone hack with a piece of flat bread?

Well, the bread, or pita in this example, is not the How, but the Where. The pita bread is actually a disguise, a small device that is used is hidden inside of the pita bread.

Now, what about the How?

The how is accomplished by a small radio receiver.

Security researchers at Tel Aviv University have demonstrated how to extract secret decryption keys from computers by capturing radio emissions of laptop computers.

According to researchers, to assemble the device the hacker would only need the following:

• FUNcube Dongle Pro+ software-defined radio
• Android-based Rikomagic MK802 IV mini-computer to control the dongle
• AM radio antenna
• A piece of pita bread to hide all the above components (or any other way to disguise the device).

Below is a detailed example of the hardware:

Why a Pita?

Once demonstrating the attack in the lab, the research team created a mobile version, dubbed the Portable Instrument for Trace Acquisition (Pita), which the researchers managed to hide inside a piece of pocket bread.

How Do the Hackers Use This?

The attack consists of monitoring a device, sending email to the target machine and then "listen" to the target machine to see what it does. Using this technique, the researchers state they were able to crunch the data and get the password in a matter of few seconds.

The good news is that the attacker has to be within 1ft 8inches (about 50cm). In my opinion that is pretty close and I would like to think that if anyone was that close to you and your laptop would be noticeable. This scenario might be less conspicuous in close quarters such as, in an airport or on a train/subway. Since the attackers have to be so close to attack you, as long as you do not have strangers near you eating a pita sandwich you should be safe.

To read the full article about how this is accomplished reference the following link:

Stealing Keys from PCs using a Radio

We welcome all comments and suggestions below.

Thanks for reading.

Joe Delio