Arduino capable of hacking any computer in just seconds, making a statement about how recklessly people invite IoT devices into their homes.
My contribution
- Conceptualized the idea of physical hacking
- Programmed a tiny Arduino capable of quickly infiltrating and stealing data
Inspiration for our project came from an unexpected angle. In shortage of material, we asked a course- mate to charge our Arduino by connecting it to their laptop via an USB port. Their lenience was not influenced by the fact that this device was collecting a range of personal information from their daily lives. From their carelessness rose our fascination. To explore and demonstrate the severity of the potential problems we have created a device capable of literally ‘hacking’ a person’s computer giving us full control in just seconds. With the aim of demonstrating how recklessly people ‘open their doors’ to IoT devices and of showing the real value of data.
The technological background of the hacking is surprisingly simple, once connected the Arduino announces itself as an external keyboard and carries out a sequence of keyboard shortcuts and commands.
Fabien Florek 