Andy Greenberg / Wired
Andy Greenberg / Wired
Researcher Planted Tiny Spy Chip in Cisco Motherboard to Give Remote Attacker Deep Control Using Only $200 in Equipment
A tiny spy chip could be planted in a company’s hardware supply chain with as little as $200 in equipment security researcher Monta Elkins will show at the CS3sthlm security conference later this month. Using a $150 hot-air soldering tool, a $40 microscope, and some $2 chips, Elkins was able to alter a Cisco firewall in a way that he says most IT admins wouldn’t notice, yet would give a remote attacker deep control. Elkins used an ATtiny85 chip, about 5 millimeters square, that he found on a $2 Digispark Arduino board and programmed to launch an attack as soon as the firewall boots up in the target’s data center; he then soldered it to the motherboard of a Cisco ASA 5505 firewall. Elkins said he could have reprogrammed the firmware of the firewall to make it into a more full-featured foothold for spying on the victim’s network.
Related: TechSpot, Slashdot, Security News | Tech Times, Boing Boing, HotHardware.com, Security – Computing, LinuxSecurity – Security Articles, Naked Security
MoreTechSpot : Hobbyists can plant hidden spy chips on motherboards for $200
Slashdot: Invisible Hardware Hacks Allowing Full Remote Access Cost Pennies
Security News | Tech Times: Cybersecurity Researcher Warns About Tiny Spy Chips Being Implanted In Hardware
Boing Boing: Proof-of-concept supply-chain poisoning: tiny, undetectable hardware alterations could compromise corporate IT
HotHardware.com: Spy Chips, The New Security Threat That’s Planted Like Tiny Hardware Bugs
Security – Computing: Tiny $2 spy chip can be added to IT hardware, claims security researcher Monta Elkins
LinuxSecurity – Security Articles: Soldering spy chips inside firewalls is now a cheap hack, shows researcher
Naked Security: Soldering spy chips inside firewalls is now a cheap hack, shows researcher