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Hacker shows how a cigarette lighter can grant you root access | Homebrewed hardware circumvents security through electromagnetic interference


Buchanan walks through his process of experimenting with low-cost fault-injection attacks as an alternative when typical software bugs aren't available to exploit.

David Buchanan, a well-known hardware modder, has detailed how he was able to gain root access on a laptop using nothing more than a resistor, wire, some tinkering, and a plain old cigarette lighter. Before you start worrying about cybercriminals breaking into systems by waving Bics around, it's important to note that for this attack to work, you'd need unrestricted physical access to the target device and a ton of time to properly configure the memory hardware mod. Buchanan also hinted in his blog at potential future endeavors, like perhaps finding similarly clever hardware hacks for upcoming devices such as the Nintendo Switch 2, which he says is what motivated him.

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