Forget Trojan horses -- it's the cats you have to worry about. Security engineer Gene Bransfield has developed WarKitteh, a tech-laden collar that turns feline companions into scouts for WiFi hackers.
The innocuous-looking accessory hides a Spark Core
board that maps wireless networks and their vulnerabilities wherever
the pet wanders. If used in the field, the technology would be pretty
sneaky; the cat stalking mice in your backyard could represent the
prelude to an attack on your wireless router.
Thankfully, Bransfield doesn't plan to weaponize the Siamese next
door any time soon. WarKitteh was developed on a lark, and it isn't
getting much more exposure than a panel at the Defcon hacking
conference.
However, the experiment in pet-based network penetration
also serves as a friendly reminder to lock down your home's WiFi access
point. The engineer discovered that many of his neighbors were either
using weak security, or none at all -- it wouldn't have taken much for
someone with more sinister intentions to either "borrow" those
connections or spy on their users.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Smart collar turns your cat into a WiFi hacking weapon
8:42 AM
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