ShmooCon 2012 - Sacrificial Computing for Land and Sky
Channel: USSJoin
Date: 2012-01-30

This was my talk at ShmooCon 2012; since the live stream was interrupted, the recording engineer gave me permission to upload it immediately. (Thanks!)

Blog post on the presentation: http://blog.ussjoin.com/2012/01/dropping-the-f-bomb.html

Abstract follows:

Projects such as the incredible Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform give you the ability to monitor or attack networks far from accessible areas, but are limited by their deployment characteristics: $6000+ buys you just 10-30 minutes on target, and you have simultaneously to do your work and defend the physical plane from Bad Men With Projectile Weapons, lest they take exception to your plans. Disposable computing designed for just one use can provide massive reductions in cost and time to deployment without sacrificing flexibility; we show how $50-$75 can give you upwards of 24 hours to work on a task, while using only off-the-shelf hardware, and leaving no data onsite for an adversary to analyze after the operation. These computers can then be planted manually, or even dropped from unspecialized UAVs (such as the Parrot Drone) to allow your expensive plane to return to safety while you do your work.