Hardware Hacking 101 – Lesson 2: Classical Hardware Hacking

Welcome back to our ongoing series on hardware hacking and our second lesson. Last month we presented “Lesson 1: Beauty, Your Home Lab and Basic Electronics” with an appreciative nod to this fine art, the essential components needed to try this at home and some helpful tutorials to quickly get you up to speed. We also made a distinction between classical and security-focused hardware hacking. So before we drag you into the deep waters and forcing devices to reveal their secrets, we’ll focus on having a smoother transition from noob to necromancer!

To get our feet wet, we’re going to start with a bit of classical hardware hacking. My keyboard, like most, has 3 green indicator LEDs above the number pad; let’s change their color. Additionally, since Linux can do some fun stuff with the scroll lock LED, let’s make that LED have a rainbow effect as a gaudy Linux notification light. Along the way, we’ll cover some core concepts for hardware hacking, learn the importance of breaking large problems into smaller ones, and eventually we’ll make an 80s era keyboard spit rainbows on command with Linux.

Catch us at RSA Conference 2019 – March 4 – 7

Quick Syllabus of Hardware Hacking 101

Now that we have you hooked, let’s reveal where this is all going.

• Lesson 1: Beauty, Your Home Lab and Basic Electronics (Jan 2019) – An intro to the series and the world of circuit boards and soldering irons.
• Lesson 2: Classical Hardware Hacking (Feb 2019) – An intro to Classical Hardware Hacking and a simple working example project with an 80s keyboard mod & spitting rainbows on command with Linux.
• Lesson 3: Standards Abuse for Your First Root Shell (Read more...)