What to expect

If you’ve never been to a hacker con, it’s a bit different than your standard conference. Don’t expect the venue to be a hotel. In fact, it’ll be at an old Masonic Temple inside the Auditorium Center.

There will be a lock picking village where the local Rochester TOOOL chapter will be around to teach people how to pick locks and the issues involved with physical security. They’ll also be selling lock picks to attendees.

Other stuff for those interested:

• a dozen or so presentations about information security by industry professionals
• a capture the flag hacker games competition
• a hacker puzzle to figure out during the con
• free breakfast and lunch

How To Attend

Attendance is free but requires that you sign up before hand. Go HERE to sign up. The conference starts at 8am so be there early to get the breakfast.

Why Lock Picking?

It’s happened to the best of us, your bloodshot eyes open to find that you’ve been strapped to a bed with handcuffs again. What do you do to get out? Call for help? Wait until the lady comes back to break your legs like in Misery? No, you know how the locking mechanism works on a pair of handcuffs and you shim your way out and escape through the window to freedom.

Lock picking is learning about how locks work which turns them into a puzzle. The number of pins in a tumbler tells you how difficult the lock is. What does it mean when a pair of handcuffs are double locked? What are security pins? What’s the difference between a wafer lock and a pin tumbler? If you have these questions, TOOOL is the group to talk with to have them answered.

TOOOL

TOOOL is The Open Organization Of Lockpickers. These guys love to learn and teach about locks, lock picking, and physical security. The difference between TOOOL and a normal locksmith, is first they don’t do it for money, second, they exchange information about locks and lock picking openly, and third, they have more of a sense of humor than your standard locksmith. To become a locksmith, normally you’d have to learn through an apprenticeship. TOOOL on the other hand will be giving presentations to the community, teaching people how to pick locks, and helping spread the knowledge about lock picking openly to the community.

Legality

Is having a pair of lock picks legal? Is it against the law to know how to lock pick? What if TSA finds a set of lock picks in your bag?? These are all boring, but serious questions that TOOOL will answer. Here’s a hint, do you think Interlock would promote illegal activity on their blog?

What to expect at the meeting:

The meeting is open to the public and is meant to be the first of future meetings. There will be a presentation of some kind related to lock picking and a lot of discussion about how future meetings will happen. The organization requires that you become a member in order to keep up to date on the groups activities but there will also be public non-member, public meetings in the future. If you can’t come to tonight’s meeting but you’re interested in learning about how the group works, you can email Jason Ross.

Rochester TOOOL Chapter meeting starts at 7pm on 4/19 at Interlock.

Brian wowed them with his always crowd pleasing custom pen plot-matrix printer he’s famous for. The picture above is the pre-printed artist’s rendition of Seth holding his mic.

Von, Brian, and Bill put on their smart hats and answered questions about Interlock. Von, showed off the ham radio room and his skills for speaking with human beings. Bill spoke about his background, why he has been involved with Interlock, and included some razzle dazzle by printing on the 3D printer.

Brian, with his boyish good looks, sparkled on camera while showing off his knowledge of all things blinky. I have to admit that while it’s nice to have Interlock get some PR, my first goal in setting up the interview was to get Brian’s face on TV. If you’ve met Brian, you’ll know that he’s a very intelligent, multi-faceted, multi-facial-haired, reluctant leader. I think that he is a very good representation of what the modern hacker/maker looks and acts like. But, he’s also not the normal talking head you would see on TV which is why I want to get him out there even more. I’m giggling right now thinking about seeing him on YNN now.

Feeling bad for the quiet bear-hat wearing man on the couch, YNN even included me in a quick interview. I worked with Bill and Von on a lock picking demo that I hope makes to air. Veronica even challenged me to a lock picking contest where I had to go from nothing in my hands, pick up the tools, and pick the lock. I surprisingly aced it picking a 4 pin lock. (Thanks TOOOL) This will never be on the air of course.

UPDATE: Check out the story here:

Thanks to Von Brian and Bill for taking the time to come out and intelligently represent the group. We don’t know when/if the story will air. Surprisingly, some people have more important things to hear about than local hackerspaces but we’ll let you know when.

Hello hackers. Look at your office. Now look at the hackerspace. Now back at your office. Now back to the space. Sadly, your office doesn’t look like the hacker space. Do you know what the new hackerspace looks like? No? Well now’s your opportunity. I’m on a horse.

Tomorrow, Friday 3/16, at 7pm we are throwing an open house at the space. Of course it’s free, we just want to show off our new digs. It’s probably a perfect time for you to visit if you’ve never been. Or if you’ve only seen the old tiny space, see what we have to offer now.

Just so we can figure out how many people are coming, click on this link to get a ticket:

http://interlockopenhouse.eventbrite.com/

Here’s what to expect:

Food!

Hacking makes you hungry. As a reward for stopping by on a Friday night, we’ll be feeding you. Members are bringing in food in a pot-luck style. Mostly things to nibble at so bring an appetite. Eating and hacking; does it get better? Well… yeah but it’s still pretty cool right?

Mini-Presentations

The most common question that we get. “What are you working on?” To try and answer that, we’ve created mini presentations about what people do at the space. Here’s what we have so far:

• Amateur radio workshop run by JustBill and Walter
• Introduction to lockpicking run by Antitree
• 3D printer presentation and possible demo by Berticus
• Basics of electronics run by RoboAlex
• Bicycle repair run by BinaryMan

Hackerspace Tour

See you there

Define:NFC

Near Field Communication is a way to transmit information between intelligent devices. I know you’re already thinking Bluetooth but wait. NFC has a limitation that says in its spec that it can’t be more than .2m away from its partner during communication. It may be a bit more depending on the implementation but the thing to remember here is that the protocol itself is what limits the distance, not just the hardware. (Quit pointing that gigantic antenna at my pocket right now!) It transmits on the HF band 13.56MHz, a frequency already used by some RFID chips and fun devices like the Proxmark 3.

Modes

Here’s what’s different about NFC: There are three different modes.

• Reader/Writer: Commonly used in smart posters or smart stickers. Think QR code but subtle.
• Peer to Peer: Data is exchanged back and forth between devices; securely exchange credit cards, give your friend your home WIFI settings, or exchange business cards.
• Card Emulation: A device acts like a contactless smart card. What if you could use your phone as a bus pass instead of keeping that flimsy magstripe pass in your pocket?

NFC != RFID

Lets take care of that up front. NFC sounds a lot like RFID (they share the whole RF thing) and it seems to get stored in people’s heads that way because NFC has the card emulation mode where it emulates at “tag” or an RFID chip.  RFID isn’t usually much more than a tag blindly broadcasting data hoping a receiver picks it up. Passive tags (or little antennas without a power source) sit and wait for an RFID reader to come by to energize them. They get all excited and tell the reader everything they know. Imagine a dog just waiting at the door for it’s owner to come home. The active RFID tags have a battery in them that constantly broadcasts itself to anyone that will listen. Kind of like that annoying friend you have that tells you everything about their life even though you never asked. NFC on the other hand is like an intelligent college student. She can have an intimate conversation with you, she can make a presentation in front of a class, but she can still get drunk and act stupid if that’s what everyone else is doing at the party.

NFC is not a new technology

We’ve seen them in European phones since 2003 or 4 and they’ve been hacked on for just as long. The folks at the Chaos Computer Club have been hacking on NFC since it’s original inception; when manufacturers like Nokia started installing it into their feature phones, AKA dumb phones. It never made it across the water – some may say due to some FCC regulations on the 13.56 frequency but I’ll leave that topic to the Ham guys.

Security

If you haven’t already, you should put on your tin foil hat now. NFC is a way for corporations to take over our bodies, man! Well…most likely not. But you’re already thinking about the security problems as soon as I wrote “credit card.” I’m going to save this whole discussion for another day but the tl;dr version is that NFC has been designed with security in mind but a lot is left up to the developer to implement securely. We all know how well that works especially for mobile app developers so I’m sure everything is going to be fine, right? Maybe next time I’ll tell you about the butt sniffing attack. No seriously.

Android and The Galaxy Nexus

How is Android implementing NFC in the Galaxy Nexus? Here’s an example of a peer to peer mode connection: When you put a Galaxy Nexus next to another Galaxy Nexus, the phone will make an NFC connection as long as both phones are unlocked. If the app that you  have open supports NFC (i.e. Google Maps) it will allow you to communicate data from your app to the other device. Some examples of this are sharing contact information, location data, websites, etc but apparently it’s going to be used for games or whatever developers can think of.

The Reader/Writer mode will allow you to take an NFC tag and shove it next to the phone. Depending on the data stored on the card, it will open an appropriate app to view the content. In the case of an NFC tag that is contains a URL, it will automatically go to that page. Ask me about some of the NFC tags I’ve made at a 2600 meeting sometime.

More info:

If you want to see a much better post that’s chock full of info check this out: http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/10/engadget-primed-what-is-nfc-and-why-do-we-care/

Here’ s a random YouTube video of two guys with Galaxy Nexuses so I don’t have to make one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQSc4uiakv4

JustBill at the controls….with aliens supervising

We also got an old Radio Shack HTX-202 operating APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) with UI-View32 (an ancient client software for radio packet hosting) and the ProComm TNC to communicate to the radio.  K2HAX is on the map!  APRS is an important tool for position reporting, remote telemetry, text messaging anyone anyplace, and local coordination of emergency training events. For a cool view of current APRS activity around K2HAX, go here.

’73 – N2ZVP – rochbert

We initially had a Kenwood TS-530s transceiver and roller tuner setup for HF and we made a few contacts.  We wanted to get the Yaesu FT-857GX out of the storage container and try it out.  That is setup now along with an automatic tuner.  Reception seems decent.  We are waiting on an operable microphone to get back on the air.  Bill, Von, Rowan, and Steve are working on that.  We will be working on CAT control and a hook-up for using SDR like functionality with Ham Radio Deluxe, allowing us to get into the digital communication modes.

The Yaesu FT-8800 VHF/UHF rig is working well, K2HAX normally monitors 146.61 (N2MPE local ARES/RACES repeater) while someone is in the shack.  We have cables for programming this rig on order and also have a cable for use with the PacComm TNC for packet, etc.

We also have a desktop PC with a nice monitor setup for use with the transceivers.  We are waiting on a 2 port serial card to communicate with the radios.  The remote programming of the radios and the option for digital mode communications (PSK, Packet, etc) opens up with the PC.

Our bench includes power supplies, frequency counters, various multi-meters and hand tools.  We have a great selection of soldering tools for discrete and SMT component work.  We have a variable temperature iron and a variable speed and temperature blower for re-work.  On order is a Hakko 808 de-soldering tool.  We have 2 antenna analyzers, a new Comet and an older MFJ.  Several bench projects are already underway including Jamie’s whispering clocks, many cable hacks for the radios, and Walter’s attempts to repair blown audio equipment.

Ham radio is witnessing a rebirth in popularity.  Emergency preparedness at the county/state/and national level has recognized the value of Ham radio as the most dependable means for communication during an emergency.  Interlock members have participated in local POD drills, Ginna nuclear event practice response teams and are regular attendees at the local ARES/RACES meetings.  Ham Radio can provide texting, TV and many other familiar forms of communication without any annoying infrastructure.  We can DX with Ham operators around the world, by voice and many new and old digital modes.  SDR is an emerging technology applied to Ham radio; opening up some fantastic possibilities for low power operation, contesting, and pulling weak signals out of the noise.

Ham radio is growing in popularity.  Interlock Hams would love to introduce anyone interested to the hobby and answer any questions you may have.

’73 Walter

Rooting:

Rooting your device offers the user full control of the device to allow to change the version of the operating system, install or uninstall any apps you’d like, and in some cases gain access to features that would otherwise be locked out by the carrier. If none of those interest you, the geek cred alone may be good enough.

Rooting is nothing more than a privilege escalation attack. You are granted standard user access to your phone but you’d like to escalate to root level privileges. Android, being built on top of Linux follows the common practice of granting root only when necessary to your device’s operations. There are a bunch of attack vectors like exploiting a service running as root, exploiting a file that has root access,

App Hacking:

There’s a lot of fun stuff you can do to hack an Android app. It’s originally coded in Java and although Android runs it’s own Java environment called Dalvik VM, an app can be decompiled from it’s byte code to Java class files. From there you can do some reverse engineering to take a look at how the app operates. With a little luck and skill, you can recompile a modified version of the app. I’m not going to go too deep into this idea but if you’re interested, I’ll be doing a presentation at this years Rochester Security Summit that will give you the tools to do this analysis yourself.

Malware:

For the security guys now, malware analysis is a fun way to get a peek into how the bad guys work. Android is in a battle with malware usually available in alternative markets. Nasty apps like “Nickispy” will steal your personal information and even record your calls to upload them back to a server. Some will root your device and install a backdoor like the latest variant of DroidKungFu. With some tools and some different analysis techniques, you can perform the analysis yourself. Jason Ross will also be presenting this year at RSS on this topic if you’re interested.

Hardware Hacking:

At this years Google IO, they announced the release of the Android Development Kit which is a bridge between your Android device and your hardware projects. Imagine controlling an Arduino with a touch screen interface or using the sensors from your phone to control a robot. As a cheap alternative to the $300+ kit, Sparkfun has created the Android IOIO, pronounced yoyo. This is what my next project will include with a little help from the robot crew at Interlock.

App Development:

If programming or art is your thing, or you want to make your next million dollars on an Angry Birds killer, you can get started developing apps on the Android Marketplace for $25. This gets you an account to upload your app to the public directory and it will show up on thousands of people’s phones. The Android SDK along with the Eclipse plugins make it pretty easy to develop without too much programming knowledge.

Android At Interlock:

In the coming months, along with all the other changes, we’re planning on doing an Android workshop at the space. Depending on the interest it may be related to rooting or application development.

Have you ever wanted to watch a hard drive get shredded in seconds, see a box of RAM that was 800 pounds, or wander through a 100,000 square foot grave yard of electronics? So did we, and our tour of Regional Computer Recycling and Recovery was just that. RCR&R is one of the major electronics recyclers in the Rochester area, and we were lucky enough to get a tour of their facilities. They outlined the process from beginning to end of how a computer is received, processed, parted out, and eventually recycled.

A group of us were guided around the RCR&R facility after learning about the organization. Vice president Charlie McKernen teamed up with client service representative Tom Smith to show us the facility, answer our questions, and keep us on track when our attention strayed to the many items sitting on the giant shelves. One of the first stops was a hard drive shredder which chopped through the devices like butter, leaving just a pile of scraps after a few sparks. We walked by workers parting out the computers, placing each into a corresponding box that would eventually be shipped out for recycling by a facility specifically designed to process that part. Charlie was able to easily answer our questions on degaussing and secure hard drive wiping methods, and they all seemed to be up to speed on the latest compliance requirements and best practices when it came to security.

The tour happened on the same day that the Democrat and Chronicle published an article discussing a New York State law touting a state wide, free e-waste recycling program. Passed in May, the law will make electronics manufacturers responsible for the waste generated when a computer is recycled. Current NYS law allows computers to be thrown out as part of your regular trash, leaking contaminants into the ground. Hazardous metals like lead and mercury, and the chemicals that make plastics flame retardant can cause damage to the environment. The new law aims to get consumers recycling their old electronics by offsetting the cost back to the manufacturers.

You can visit the RCR&R website for more information about their facility and services, and be sure to check out their Electronics Cafe eBay store if you’re interested in seeing all of the fun stuff they have for sale.

EDIT: Their facility is 100,000 sqft in Victor and their Central Ave. location is 20,000 sqft.

Our first year was packed with tasks necessary for putting together a hackerspace from the ground up.  Starting out, we were a group of people meeting in a coffee shop with an idea and we quickly transitioned into getting a space to call home, incorporating the organization and designing the bylaws for the group.  We worked with community leaders to attend events like Barcamp Rochester and partnered up with our friends at CoWorking Rochester for lightning talks. And in between all of that, we tried to make time for our personal projects.

It was fun to hear what members had been working on in the space this year. Arduinos, Apple 2c+ hacking, knitting, networking, photography, infosec, robotics, ham radio, makerbot plans, virtualization, lock picking, phone systems, classes, aerial photography, are just a few of the projects we worked on.

This coming year, we have some exciting new ideas for everyone  and the members have even more ideas for their own projects.  Some of those ideas are about improving Interlock for the public and our community like offering different membership options.  We’re also working on ideas for a project we can work on as a group.

Finally as part of our business planning, we reviewed our financial situation and approved a budget.  You can take a look at our costs and where the money goes from 2010 below.

A thanks goes out to all of our members and friends who donate their time, money, and ideas to our cause.  We seriously couldn’t have done it without you.