Grand Idea Studio

Field Monitor Pro

Admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:44:25 +0000

The Field Monitor Pro is the world’s first clamshell portable monitor. It uses DisplayLink’s USB graphics technology to give a laptop, work computer, or home computer an immediate secondary display through a simple USB connection.

Primary features include a 15.4-inch color LCD flat panel, built-in numeric keypad for efficient data entry, two USB 2.0 ports for external peripherals, and adjustable physical configurations.

Conceived and sold by Mobile Monitor Technologies. Grand Idea Studio provided the entire electrical design for the system. Patent pending.

Network Security Podcast

Admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:06:18 +0000

I was only able to get a few interviews while I was in Vegas this year. But, one of my favorites was talking to Joe Grand, the creator of all five year’s worth of electronic Defcon badges.

Laser Position Sensor

Admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:07:06 +0000

The Laser Position Sensor (LPS) module is an optical sensor that measures and provides the two-dimensional coordinates of visible red laser light (630-694nm) shined onto its surface. The LPS has a resolution of 0.0001″, an accuracy of 0.001″, and a measurement range of +/-0.2″ (+/-5mm). Applications include positioning and alignment, long-range beam-break/security trip wires, remote device control, data communications, and high-speed photography.

This design is based, with permission, on Roger Johnson and Chris Lentz’s 2-D Optical Position Sensor (Circuit Cellar #152, March 2003). There are no plans to manufacture or sell the LPS. It is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license and no technical support will be provided.

Documentation:

Product Brief
Schematic
Bill-of-Materials
Gerber Plots
Assembly Drawing
Test Procedure
Background Debug Mode (BDM) Connection Diagram
Source Code: Freescale MC9S08JM8 for CodeWarrior
Sample Code: BASIC Stamp 2
Sample Code: Parallax Propeller

Hak5

Admin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 01:28:58 +0000

This week, Darren & crew take on DEFCON, the nation’s largest annual hacker convention, and check out pen-testing UAV platforms, badge viruses, lock picking, Metasploit, Capture the Flag and so much more.

Joe Grand Joins WakeMate Advisory Board

Admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 05:00:55 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio has joined the Advisory Board for WakeMate. WakeMate is a wearable mobile phone accessory that analyzes your sleep cycle and wakes you up feeling fresher and more rested. Joe will assist in the review of WakeMate’s electrical engineering design and provide general guidance and recommendations to the product’s development and manufacturing processes.

The Usual Suspects Radio Show

Admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:41:06 +0000

Video: Please follow the link to view.

Spankwagon.net

Admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 22:34:28 +0000

This week we hit up the conventions as we first try and dive into the hacker world at DefCon, and then we raid and camp at the Classic Gaming Expo.

DEFCON 18

Admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:00:17 +0000

Joe Grand will present “Making the DEFCON 18 Badge,” a look at the engineering process behind the conference’s attendee badge. He will also be participating in the Hardware Hacking Village.

Hack a Day

Admin — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 22:37:16 +0000

The details are out for the DefCon 18 badges. The new design has a lot of goodies packed into it, most notably a 128×32 LCD display.

PCWorld

Admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:32:17 +0000

In this week’s show: Exclusive video of the Defcon hacking conference badge.

Black Hat USA 2010 Briefings and Training

Admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:35:17 +0000

Joe Grand will conduct his two-day “Hands-On Hardware Hacking and Reverse Engineering Techniques” training course at both the weekend and weekday sessions.

PCWorld

Admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:51:50 +0000

Here’s a first look at the Defcon 18 badge, set to be unveiled Thursday at the annual hacker conference in Las Vegas.

SC Magazine

Admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:28:25 +0000

The second and final day of Black Hat is upon us, but with all the robust content the show is producing, it feels for many like the conference has been running much longer. Not as long, perhaps, as the line in the hallway to acquire a a badge for DEFCON, the sister conference that kicks off this weekend.

Computerworld

Admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:41:18 +0000

It’s one of the best things about the Defcon hacking conference, and one of its most closely guarded secrets: the programmable badge that’s handed out to show attendees every year. Designed by legendary hardware hacker Joe Grand, this year’s badge will have a programmable persistent display.

DEFCON 18 Badge

Admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:50:37 +0000

The DEFCON 18 Badge was created for the 2010 edition of DEFCON, the largest and oldest continuously running hacker and computer security convention in the world. The badge features active electronics mounted on an artistically designed, aluminum substrate printed circuit board.

The badge is based around a Freescale MC56F8006 16-bit digital signal controller and the pièce de résistance is a Kent Displays 128-by-32 pixel reflective cholesteric liquid crystal display (ChLCD). Other functionality includes USB connectivity, seamless power switching, and hidden modes for a variety of contests held at the conference. Source code was developed using the freely available CodeWarrior for 56800/E Digital Signal Controllers. A single CR2032 3V Lithium coin cell battery provides the required power.

A total of 7,780 badges were manufactured with unique laser engraved graphics used to denote each type of DEFCON clientele: Human, Goon, Press, Speaker, Vendor, Contest Organizer, and Uber (awarded to the winners of official DEFCON contests).

For the fifth year in a row, Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio hosted the DEFCON Badge Hacking Contest, which awards the most ingenious, obscure, mischievous, or technologically astounding badge modification created during the weekend conference. There were 21 official entries in this year’s contest. The winning entry was a UPC-A/UPC-E Barcode Writer/Emulator by Brad Threatt designed to fool the self-checkout scanners used at major retailers. Additional contest information can be found at the Contest Results posting on the DEFCON Forums.

Documentation:

Schematic
Bill-of-Materials
Assembly Drawing
Source Code: Freescale MC56F8006 for CodeWarrior
Slides: Behind the Scenes of the DEFCON 18 Badge
Article: The DEFCON 18 Badge: Fifth Time’s the Charm (Conference Brochure)

Selected Badge Hacking Contest Entries:

Video Samples (Joe Grand)
Pictures (Joe Grand)
Tool: DEFCON 18 Badge Image Writer (Brad Isbell)
Tool: DEFCON 18 Badge Image Editor for Python (pflarr)
Project Files: GoatBar UPC-A/UPC-E Barcode Writer/Emulator with Supporting Images (Brad Threatt)
Project Files: STDin Badge-to-Badge Virus Propagation with Supporting Video (Team Redacted)
Project Files: 125kHz RFID Emulator (sk3tch)
Project Files: Long Range TV-B-Gone (501d3r-guy and 14rgo)

RFID Read/Write Module

Admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:24:19 +0000

The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Read/Write Module provides a low-cost solution to read and write passive RFID transponder tags up to 3 inches away. The module can be used in a wide variety of hobbyist and commercial applications, including access control, user identification, robotics navigation, inventory tracking, payment systems, car immobilization, and manufacturing automation.

The RFID Read/Write Module works exclusively with the EM Microelectronic-Marin SA EM4x50 1kbit R/W transponder tags. A variety of different tag types and styles exist from such manufacturers as HID Global and CYNTAG. The most popular compatible tags are also available from Parallax. Each tag contains a unique, read-only serial number (one of 2³², or 4,294,967,296 possible combinations) and 116 bytes of user data area stored in a non-volatile EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Read Only Memory). The user data area can be optionally secured with a 32-bit password to allow only authorized read and write operations.

Parallax, Inc. is the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of the RFID Read/Write Module (#28440). For questions and technical support, contact support@parallax.com.

Module Highlights:

Serial TTL interface, 9600bps
Requires single +5VDC supply
3.25″ L x 2.45″ W
Bi-color LED for visual indication of activity

Documentation (from Parallax):

RFID Read/Write Module Licensed to Parallax

Admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:16:09 +0000

The RFID Read/Write Module is the third in a family of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products designed by Grand Idea Studio and exclusively licensed to Parallax, Inc. The module provides a low-cost solution to read and write passive RFID transponder tags, which can be password protected to allow only authorized access, using a simple communications interface. The RFID Read/Write Module can be used in a wide variety of hobbyist and commercial applications, including access control, user identification, inventory tracking, payment systems, and manufacturing automation.

Reuters

Admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:43:12 +0000

A security expert has identified flaws in the design of some automated teller machines that make them vulnerable to hackers, who could make the ubiquitous cash dispensers spit out their cash holdings.

Freescale Technology Forum Americas 2010

Admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:16:50 +0000

Joe Grand will host the Tower Throwdown Design Challenge and participate in the Opening General Session alongside Rich Beyer, Chairman and CEO of Freescale Semiconductor.

EE Publishers

Admin — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:02:14 +0000

One of the speakers at the recent ITWeb Security Summit held at the Sandton convention centre was international security guru and president of Grand Idea Studio, Joe Grand, who said that attention to hardware hacking is ten years behind the awareness given to software.

Joe Grand to Host Freescale’s Tower Throwdown Design Challenge

Admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:56:25 +0000

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio will be hosting the Tower Throwdown Design Challenge at the Freescale Technology Forum Americas 2010. The 36-hour event challenges participants to create unique, interesting, or otherwise curious projects using Freescale’s Tower System modules and MQX Software Solutions.

DiscussIT

Admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 18:29:37 +0000

In this wide-ranging discussion, Joe Grand reminisces about the L0pht, and moves on to more recent interests, including his fascination with hardware security.

Perspectives from the L0pht

Admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 18:01:41 +0000

For nearly a decade, Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio was a member of the infamous hacker collective known as L0pht Heavy Industries in Boston, Massachusetts. Starting in the early 1990s as a clubhouse for local hackers to store computer equipment, tinker with projects, and just hang out, the L0pht (spelled ell-zero-ph-t) ended up as seven close-knit friends changing the face of computer security vulnerability research and disclosure.

The group would discover security flaws in software applications and hardware products and challenge the vendors to not only acknowledge the problems, but to fix them – a feat practically unheard of at the time. In 1998, they gained public attention testifying before the United States Senate Governmental Affairs Committee and were praised as “modern day Paul Reveres” for their warnings of computer security weaknesses. In an anticlimactic ending in 2000, the L0pht was sold to a security consulting start-up and the original members eventually went their separate ways.

This session is a look back at Joe’s experiences growing up in one of the most recognized hacker groups in the world during the burgeoning days of the computer security industry and how the industry has changed, or stayed the same, since then.

Slides: Perspectives from the L0pht

Hacks and Attacks: Examples of Electronic Device Compromise

Admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 00:35:06 +0000

As engineers, we have a responsibility to learn from problems of the past in order to better equip ourselves for designs of the future. This session presents the typical hardware hacking process and some high-profile attacks against electronic devices such as microprocessors, smartcards, and parking meters.

Slides: Hacks and Attacks: Examples of Electronic Device Compromise

Paper: Hacks and Attacks: Examples of Electronic Device Compromise

Published by CMP Media in the Proceedings of the 2010 Embedded Systems Conference, San Jose, California, April 26-29, 2010.

Technorant

Admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:20:20 +0000

We managed to grab Joe Grand for 5 minutes at the ITWeb Security Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Here’s what he had to say.

ITWeb

Admin — Sat, 15 May 2010 00:10:52 +0000

Hardware hacking has flown under the radar, but a good hardware attack can have serious repercussions. This is according to international security guru and president of Grand Idea Studio, Joe Grand, who says attention to hardware hacking is 10 years behind the awareness given to software.

ITWeb Security Summit 2010

Admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:34:54 +0000

Joe Grand will present a keynote address entitled “Perspectives from the L0pht,” a look back at growing up in the early days of the computer security industry. He will also present a technical session entitled “Hardware is the New Software,” which explores the hardware hacking process and high-profile attacks against electronic devices.

Talk Radio 702 (South Africa)

Admin — Thu, 13 May 2010 00:17:05 +0000

Business Editor Bruce Whitfield interviews Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio about the state of computer security during Talk Radio 702′s The World at Six program.

ITWeb

Admin — Wed, 12 May 2010 23:30:31 +0000

Although the security landscape has changed and evolved over the past 20 years, the state of IT security has arguably gotten worse.

Brainstorm Magazine

Admin — Sun, 02 May 2010 00:12:34 +0000

The hardware product design industry and security industry are totally separate. They should be combined, says Joe Grand, product designer and president of Grand Idea Studio.