Black Hat: Security Bugs Allow Takeover of Capsule Hotel Rooms
A researcher was able to remotely control the lights, bed and ventilation in “smart” hotel rooms via Nasnos vulnerabilities.
Tag Archive for: Capsule
Watch a Hacker Hijack a Capsule Hotel’s Lights, Fans, and Beds
Kyasupā wondered if he could hack his hotel’s iPod Touch controls after they handed it to him at check in, but he didn’t want to waste his vacation time reverse engineering the system. He says he changed his mind after a noisy neighbor kept him up for several nights. “I thought it would be nice if I could take control of his room and make him have a lovely night,” he writes. “That’s how I decided to start to analyze how everything worked.”
The iPods the hotel issued as remote controls were locked with iOS’ “guided access” setting that prevents users from leaving the Nasnos remote control app. But Kyasupā found he could simply let the iPod’s battery drain and restart it to gain full access—a hard reboot is a known guided access workaround—and the iPod didn’t have a PIN set for its lockscreen. He then saw that the iPod was connecting via Wi-Fi to a Nasnos router—each room seemed to have its own—that in turn connected via radio to the other digital devices in the room like its lights, fan, and foldout couch.
To intercept the app’s commands from the iPod to the Nasnos router, Kyasupā knew he’d have to find the password to access that router. But remarkably, he found that the Nasnos routers used WEP encryption by default, a form of Wi-Fi security known for decades to be easily crackable. “Seeing that WEP is still used in 2019, it’s crazy,” he writes. Using the program AircrackNG, he brute-forced the router’s password and connected to it from this laptop. He was then able to use his Android phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot, connect the iPod to that hot spot, and route it through his laptop. Finally, he connected the laptop to the Nasnos router via Wi-Fi and used that setup as a man-in-the-middle to eavesdrop on all the iPod’s communications to the router.
Kyasupā then tried out every function in the app—such as turning lights on and off, converting the couch to a bed, and so on—while recording the data packets sent for each one. Because the Nasnos app used no actual authentication or encryption in its communications with the router, other than the WEP Wi-Fi encryption, he could then connect to the room’s router with his laptop instead and replay those commands to trigger the…
Time capsule app Timehop suffered a July 4th data breach that affected 21 million users
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Awesome Stuff: The Fidget Capsule
It’s been a while since we’ve done an “Awesome Stuff” post, but we were sent a prototype of a new fidget device called Fidget Capsule and couldn’t resist writing it up. You may recall, of course, that “fidget” devices were all the rage for a year or so, starting with the famed “Fidget Cube” and then being overtaken by the “fidget spinner” which was an astoundingly popular fad for a very brief period of time (anyone still use a fidget spinner? I didn’t think so.) Of course, that hasn’t stopped people from fidgeting. I will admit, without shame, that my desk has probably over a dozen different fidget devices — as well as magnets and pens and other things that aren’t technically designed for fidgeting, but that’s exactly how I use them.
Even though I’m bizarrely fascinated in all sorts of fidget devices, I wasn’t entirely sure if the world needed another one. However, the Fidget Capsule is pretty amazing. As you can see in the video, it’s pretty straightforward and simple. Unlike the Fidget Cube, there’s just one thing you can do with it: squeeze it. But, it does that very, very well. It’s basically silent, and kind of perfect as an idle fidgeting device. I’ve actually found that many fidget devices are… not that good for fidgeting. You may start playing with it, but if you really need to concentrate on something, the fidgeting stops. If anything, I’ve found that Fidget Cubes are great for when I’m walking around, but not when I’m working. Fidget keyring chain toys are probably still my overall favorite — as they’re also tiny and easy to just to carry around all the time with you (especially since they’re just basically a keyring), but the Fidget Capsule works great at my desk while I’m working or on a phone call.
It feels very solidly built, and I’ve dropped it a few times and don’t see it being damaged at all. It certainly feels like it will last quite a while. The prototype they sent me is the red one, and I now see that they’re actually selling them in batches, with each one having a different resistance. The one they sent me apparently has 6 lbs of resistance, which feels pretty good. I have no idea how the other levels would work (they come in 2lbs, 4lbs, 8lbs, and the special hardcore one at 20lbs). If you don’t care at all about fidget toys then clearly these won’t be for you, but if you’re like me and get somewhat obsessive about them, it’s pretty cool.
Potential downsides: unlike most other fidget toys, this one is pretty strictly a “desktop” or “tabletop” fidget device. You probably don’t want to carry it around with you. It’s a bit bulky and pretty heavy (again, solid metal material). It could fit in a pocket, but I don’t think it would be particularly comfortable there. It does come with a magnetic display stand which is nice (though it took me nearly a week until I realize I had the display stand upside down — and it works and looks much better right side up).
The one other potential downside: they really seem to want people to buy a set of either four or five of them in the different resistance levels. They don’t really have options to just buy a single one — other than the hardcore 20lb. one, which is priced so close to the various sets that it almost certainly makes sense to just upgrade to a set. And that will probably price it out of the range of many buyers. It’s one thing to spend ~$ 10 to ~$ 15 on fidget toys, but this one requires you to spend around $ 50 or more. Considering you get a set of 4 or 5, the price per capsule could be as low as $ 9, which is not bad at all. But… you still have to buy all of them to get that kind of pricing and I’d imagine that’s probably too much for many people. Still, it’s a pretty cool device and is definitely good at what it’s designed to do, so if you’re obsessed with fidgeting, check it out.
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