DEF CON 15 - nonsequitor and Ab3nd - Hardware Hacking For Software Geeks
Channel: DEFCONConference
Date: 04/02/2014

David Gustin "nonsequitor" & Abraham "AbEnd" Shultz: Hardware Hacking for Software Geeks
.This presentation is an introduction to hardware design and reverse engineering, with an eye towards developing an individual laboratory for future exploration. We start by covering the basic tools and setting up a laboratory. In this section, we cover the basic tools, such as soldering tools, oscilloscopes, and logic analyzers. The focus is on getting the tools for low or no cost. From there, we cover the forward engineering process, including various microcontroller designs. Finally, we will go over hardware reverse engineering and its relation to the forward engineering process. There will be demonstrations of low cost oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and flash dumping tools. These tools will be used against consumer-grade hardware to demonstrate the beginning of a reverse engineering attempt.

This talk assumes slight prior knowledge of electronics on a hobbyist level. The ability to read a schematic will come in handy, but isn't required. Even if you don't have a hobby-level interest in electronics, we hope you will by the end of the presentation.

"nonsequitor" David has been working as an embedded software developer since 2001. He spent 3 years interning at Astronautics Corporation of America working with safety critical avionics devices for projects ranging from the space shuttle to commercial airliners. After graduation he spent 8 months working on embedded devices for building control networks containing thousands of networked devices on various topologies. David then took a job doing quality assurance at Imperfect Networks verifying a suite of products relating to malicious traffic generation. He has since moved back into embedded software and spent a year developing and testing software for the AirBus A380 Super Jumbo. He is currently working on Maritime Control Systems for ZF. 

Ab3nd plays with electronics for fun and programs computers for money. His past projects have included Tesla coils, a lighting system for a model apartment, telepresence drones, sentry guns, a wearable computer, magnetic card readers and writers, and mad scientist props. His future projects are legion. Abend enjoys good gin