• jonw@links.mayhem.academy
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    6 days ago

    The problem, of course, is distinguishing between harmless and harmful use. There are painfully few things that are objectively good or bad.

  • Obinice@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    The device only gives easy access to already extremely weak/non existent security systems. That’s literally it.

    It’s just something that’s existed forever, but put into a convenient package and marketed well enough that suddenly normal people are realising how insecure their electronic systems actually are.

    Kinda like how they used to make pacemakers hackable because they never thought to add any security at all. I bet many of them still don’t.

    Anyway, the issue lies not with this device, which can’t “hack” anything with any actual security, the issue is with manufacturers making devices that literally leave the door wide open to anybody with an extremely basic electronic sniffer/cloner device.

    • mesamune@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Yep you can do the same operations with a RTLSDR (20-40$) and a signal repeater (20ish) and raspberry pi/netbook. It’s somewhat harder to do if you don’t know the software but it really just exposes very insecure hardware. Companies should put a semblance of security and it would take care of things. These kind of devices are everywhere not just the flipper. Flipper just made it a tiny bit more friendly.

    • pezhore@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      I have one and I highly recommend the wifi card. I also have a slightly working Carbon Dioxide sensor - I say slightly because it’s readings are consistently off when compared to my Aranet. Supposedly there’s a way to calibrate, but I haven’t had time to dig into it further.

      My only issue with the device is that I wish there were more tamagochi elements to the dolphin buddy.

      • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        That said, this is the argument that gun-owning cowards use, so does it fall under the “How do we stop this happening, says only country in the world where this happens regularly” category?

        Probably a wise move to nip it in the bud

      • papabobolious@feddit.nu
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        9 months ago

        I guess it could steal maybe some 90s cars with remote fobs, but I don’t think it can do modern keyless entry cars in any useful way.

      • Herr Woland@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Not only that, you can easily buy more advanced car stealing tools that are made for this purpose from Chinese websites.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Presumably, such tools subject to the ban would include HackRF One and LimeSDR, which have become crucial for analyzing and testing the security of all kinds of electronic devices to find vulnerabilities before they’re exploited.

    This slim, lightweight device bearing the logo of an adorable dolphin acts as a Swiss Army knife for sending, receiving, and analyzing all kinds of wireless communications.

    People can use them to change the channels of a TV at a bar covertly, clone simple hotel key cards, read the RFID chip implanted in pets, open and close some garage doors, and, until Apple issued a patch, send iPhones into a never-ending DoS loop.

    The price and ease of use make Flipper Zero ideal for beginners and hobbyists who want to understand how increasingly ubiquitous communications protocols such as NFC and Wi-Fi work.

    Lost on the Canadian government, the device isn’t especially useful in stealing cars because it lacks the more advanced capabilities required to bypass anti-theft protections introduced in more than two decades.

    The most prevalent form of electronics-assisted car theft these days, for instance, uses what are known as signal amplification relay devices against keyless ignition and entry systems.


    The original article contains 617 words, the summary contains 195 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • vithigar@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      I can’t be the only person who reads “I’m open source” with the same cadence as “I’m on a horse” then hears the Old Spice jingle in my head, can I?

      • Evkob@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        Well in any case, if you were the only one, you aren’t anymore.

  • no banana@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I see how that might make sense to lawmakers. It does present itself as a problem. But the fact that it is a symptom of a security issue is the reason it shouldn’t be outright banned. I haven’t used the thing, but it has looked to me like a pretty snazzy multitool.

    It’s like banning swiss army knives. I can see why it looks like it makes sense, but it really doesn’t.

    • CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      It reminds me of a lawmaker in one of the flyover states that wanted to make it illegal to look at the source code of a website.

      Think about this for a second.

      And realize that this twat is writing laws.

        • Aatube@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          What’s wrong with that “a series of tubes” speech? It seems pretty accurate to bandwidth

          Edit: Searched it up. The part that was wrong was him blaming email delays on bandwidth.

        • CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          No, it was a few years back when a researcher found that there was a plain text file of county employee social security numbers just sitting inside the JavaScript of a government website.

          There are too many Google results from the upcoming election for me to sort through but suffice it to say, the guy was a class A idiot.

        • seang96@spgrn.com
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          9 months ago

          I don’t think so, but it was in response to some smart people developing their government website with the database stored basically in the HTML of the website if I remember correctly. A good Samaritan reported it and was basically charged with hacking the state.

          • Mario_Dies.wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            9 months ago

            A good Samaritan reported it and was basically charged with hacking the state

            Wait, really? What would I search to read more about this? Do you remember which state?

          • pixelmeow@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            The problem with this is that reading the generated HTML behind a page that has been served to your browser does not prove that data was stored in an HTML source file. The data is inserted into the page while it’s being served to the browser. That’s what the JavaScript does after it requests the data from the backend code, which gets the data from the database (or whatever storage is being used) and sends it back to the JavaScript, which puts it in the page.

            Saving data in source HTML files would mean every possible combination of data anyone might request must be saved in its own separate file, which is definitely not how web development is done. Laws should not be made by people who don’t know what they’re talking about.

        • lad@programming.dev
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          9 months ago

          Happened around 2021-10-15:

          Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said that his administration is pursuing the prosecution of a local newspaper reporter who alerted the government to website security flaws.

          It’s in the following sources, at least: TechCrunch, NPR, NY Times

    • rdyoung@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I’ve been watching flipper since it was announced. I should probably buy one and play with it.

      All this is going to do is increase sales of the thing and probably increase the number of “kids” trying to break into cars. Streisand effect ftw.

      • Case@lemmynsfw.com
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        9 months ago

        I have one.

        Its fun.

        But on the subject of rolling codes, I was able to get through a security gate that relies on, essentially, a garage door opener.

        The exploit relied on the ridiculously low amount of rolling codes it cycled through.

        Capture one, and try it a few times to get through.

        Cars are more robust. Despite tinkering with it for about 8 hours, I wasn’t successful with defeating it. That being said, I picked up the device, in part, to start messing around with various signals as an educational tool.

    • LazaroFilm@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      The real problem is Flipper Zero is just a nicely packaged tool that can also br easily assembled with other off the shelf parts. And those parts alone can do many other things that should not be made illegal. The real solution should be from car manufacturers and ensuring that they don’t use tech that can be so easily hacked.

    • lad@programming.dev
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      9 months ago

      It’s like banning swiss army knives

      That’s why we went forth and banned everything swiss, army, or knive, altogether

  • bjorney@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    There is nothing this thing can do that a dedicated hobbyist couldn’t replicate with parts bought off the shelf at a RadioShack, so where does the line get drawn

  • uhmbah@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    Ya but, you can’t steal cars with this unit.

    If our politicians are not the laughing stock, they should be.

    • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 months ago

      They’re too busy profiting from all of the illegal activity in this country. Organized crime is absolutely thriving in Canada because the people in charge are allowing it to occur.

  • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com
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    9 months ago

    Read everyone, this is hype, and Canada is being dumb on this one.

    The Flipper Zero is also incapable of defeating keyless systems that rely on rolling codes, a protection that’s been in place since the 1990s that essentially transmits a different electronic key signal each time a key is pressed to lock or unlock a door.

    Most of this reaction is due to staged videos on TikTok and politicians not understanding technology. Maybe they’ll stop a few joyriding kids, but car thiefs aren’t using F0s.

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Politicians passing laws based on things they don’t understand?

      Quelle surprise.

      But also:

      a protection that’s been in place since the 1990s

      That’s not necessarily a guarantee, c.f. Hyundai and Kia’s lack of ignition locks.

      • centof@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Politicians passing laws based on things they don’t understand?

        aka virtue signaling

        • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          Another way of saying that is moral grandstanding, which I kind of like better. I like the imagery of grandstanding, especially when describing politicians.

        • Billiam@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          That’s because you all up there in America Lite hate capitalism, freedom, democracy, eagles, and baby Jesus.

    • Aatube@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      Isn’t it possible for someone to code a code-roller onto the flipper zero app store?

    • Player2@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      With a jammer it’s definitely possible to bypass rolling codes with Flipper, but it’s only temporary and has limited usefulness

      • Takumidesh@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It’s pretty difficult, you need to get the rolling code from the fob, but you also need to jam it so it doesn’t reach the car.

        Then you have one opportunity to replay the code before the holder of the fob hits the button in range and rolls the code over.

        So even if you manage to set that up that only gets you in the car, it doesn’t get it started.

        • Player2@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          Yes correct, just pointing out that it is technically possible to get around the system

      • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        9 months ago

        That isn’t bypassing rolling codes, that’s capturing a single code while preventing it from reaching the car.

        And once the code is used once, or the fob gets a new code to the car, the previously captured code is useless.

        This isn’t the same thing as bypassing rolling codes.

        • Player2@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          Hmm, I don’t know the precise terminology, I meant bypass as a way to temporarily get around the rolling code system without actually breaking the code itself. You’re probably right though

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    If the flipper can help you stealing a car, the flipper is not the problem, but the neglect and incompetence of the car company is.

  • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Oh right, forgot about this little thing. Had my eye it long time ago, but forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me Canada. Should probably read up on Streisand effect.

    • Necrosynthetik@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      They are a fun little tool for hardware hacking and teaching yourself more about what it can do. I bought one last year.

  • InfiniWheel@lemmy.one
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    9 months ago

    Can you even buy these without ending up on a list somewhere? Since its only sold online this feels like the kind of thing that gets you on a list

    • Mango@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Ok I see why you guys might think this guy is being dumb, but having spent some time on Agora with all the honey pots, it’s not too crazy.

      That said, it’s probably much less likely here my dude.

  • Clbull@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    This is about more than just cars. Anything that uses RFID, NFC, etc, such as an employee badge or even contactless credit/debit card payments, are vulnerable to such an attack.

    Jason Thor Hall (ex-Blizzard employee) explains how such things can be used in social engineering attacks.

    Regardless of whether it’s open source hardware/technology, should we be authorising sales of such prebuilt devices for $170 which can allow the average Joe to break into an office or steal a car?

    • Ben Hur Horse Race@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      did you read the article? the flipper can essentially “break into” next-to no cars produced after 1990

      Should ‘we’ be ‘authorizing sales’ is an interesting choice of words imo also, nothing negative just saying it made me question who the “we” part really is, and if something being sold has thus been authorized by some all powerful body

    • cadekat@pawb.social
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      9 months ago

      Yes we should allow them, because the problem isn’t that this tool is available. The problem is that cars and other devices aren’t more secure.

      If you broke into a bank vault with a screwdriver, you don’t ban screwdrivers; you get mad at the bank.

  • MTK@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Car security is horrible

    I bought a copying remote from aliexpress thinking “no way my car has a static code and not a rolling one… right?”

    Nope, fuck you Kia, any stupid cheap remote from aliexpress can be used to copy keys from a surprising amount of cars.

    Car security should improve and I hope this becomes a big enough issue that it get’s better regulated

    • MrFunnyMoustache@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      I would have expected an OTP type code to unlock a car… Considering how expensive cars are, this is really cheap to implement. Heck, I could buy a yubikey for €25, and I’m sure if a big company wants to buy a million of them, they can do it for a fraction of that cost… A brand new car costs tens of thousands…, it should’ve been a no brainer to include better security.

      • The Menemen!@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, but savin 1.50 per car improves some stupid business performance indicator, which respectively will get some manager a nice bonus.

        • MrFunnyMoustache@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          I believe you, this world is so weird… For companies that make tens of billions in profit, saving a million dollars on chips is almost a rounding error compared to the benefit to their reputation when their cars are more secure.

          • The Menemen!@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Ever since I first met the insanity that are business indicator numbers, I lost my believe in humanity. People knowingly hurt their companies effectiveness and prosperity just to improve those numbers. And they get rewarded for it.