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The incredibly intricate badges of Def Con
Three days before the 24th annual Def Con hacker event, badge designer and builder 1o57 (aka Ryan Clarke) had a problem. "The lion's share of the 20,000 badges showed up this year not programmed," he told Engadget. He gathered up a team and they went into "hell mode" to hand-program blinking pieces of electronic riddled with cryptographic puzzles.
The hysterical hacking headlines of Def Con 24
You might've noticed that your regular news outlets have way more hysterical, random-seeming and utterly terrifying articles about hacking this week. That's because hacking conference Def Con happened last weekend, where a fair number of journalists had the pee scared out of them and decided to share their irrational reactions with everyone.
Those chip and PIN cards aren't as secure as we thought
Chip and PIN cards and readers are finally rolling out in the United States. Unlike traditional magnetic cards, which use static information to make a transaction, these pieces of plastic create a new key with each purchase, based on a standard by Europay, MasterCard and Visa. That should make purchases or withdrawals more secure, since the information is only valid for 60 seconds. As it turns out, according to Rapid7 security firm researcher Weston Hecker, a lot can happen in that minute.
Sex toy sends intimate data to its creator
Connected sex toys that track your habits can be helpful, but at least one of them is a little too willing to transmit your personal data. Presenters at Def Con have revealed that at least one toy, the We-Vibe 4 Plus, regularly shares sensitive info with its creators at Standard Innovations Corporation. The couple-oriented vibrator sends its temperature to the manufacturer every minute, and reports whenever you change the vibration level. While it's not calling you out by name, it wouldn't take much to piece together details you probably don't want to share beyond your partner, such as when you climax and what it takes to get there.
Researcher finds huge security flaws in Bluetooth locks
Security researcher Anthony Rose just wanted to try out his Bluetooth range-finding setup. While wandering in his neighborhood, he noticed a lot of Bluetooth locks popping up and decided to do some sniffing of those "security" gadgets (read: capturing packets being sent between devices). "I discovered plain-text passwords being sent that anybody could read. I couldn't imagine I was the only one that could see this," Rose told Engadget following a presentation at last week's DefCon security conference.
How to hack a government
Last month members of the Turkish military experienced an attempted coup to oust president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The overthrow attempt was quickly thwarted, but it might have succeeded if Chris Rock (the security researcher, not the comedian) had had a hand in it.
AI hackers will make the world a safer place -- hopefully
The spotlights whirl in circles and transition from blue to purple to red and back to blue again. Basking in the glow is a stage constructed to resemble something out of a prime-time singing competition. But instead of showcasing would-be pop stars, the backdrop is built to push 21kW of power while simultaneously piping 3,500 gallons of water to cool its contestants. Those seven competitors were actually server boxes autonomously scanning and patching vulnerabilities.
