This Cheap Air Drone Can Break Into Your Computer and Own It [Hacking]

This must be the holy grail of hacking: a cheap, do-it-yourself flying drone that can break into Wi-Fi networks and turn computers into zombies that can be controlled remotely. The coolest part for evildoers: it makes the hacking untraceable.

The SkyNET drone is a modified $300 Parrot quadcopter with a Linux computer, 3G card, a GPS unit and two Wi-Fi cards. This is how it works:

Controlled by a botmaster using 3G, the drone or group of drones fly over any urban area looking for Wi-FI networks. As they find them, they automatically try to break in. Once they get inside the network, it searches for personal computers that can be compromised. Any computer that falls to the attack gets turned into a zombie without the user ever knowing it.

After the infection process, the hackers can easily control the zombies remotely through the Wi-Fi drone-to-host connection. The zombies can be used to perform any attack through their internet connections, receiving commands from SkyNET but with no traceable internet ties to the hacker botmaster:

Subsequent drone ?ights are used to issue command and control without ever linking the botmaster to the botnet via the Internet. Reverse engineering the botnet, or enumerating the bots, does not reveal the identity of the botmaster.

It's a perfect idea. Total cost: a mere $600. Anyone can easily build a complete fleet of these.

Also, words words words Sarah Connor words words Terminators hah hah words. [SkyNET Paper (PDF) via Cnet]

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Pixely 90s Computer Cursors Make for Retro-Wonderful Tablet Styluses [Tablets]

There was a lot of charm to the bygone experience of using a computer in the 90s; I remember the nuances of my modem's soothing screech better than the hook from "I Want It That Way" (which is reallyreallyreally well). And the goofy pointer finger cursor was so wonderful that this novelty cursor tablet stylus is actually kind of tempting.

The Big Big Cursor and Big Big Arrow styluses have rubber tips that are apparently fairly accurate, and can glide for scrolling and drawing. But let's face it, if you're buying this thing, it's not for functionality; it's to be the quirky guy in class taking notes on an iPad with a little white finger. The Arrow and Cursor are $13 each and available now. [Big Big Cursor via Wired]

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How a Despicable Computer Consultant Terrorized More than 100 People by Watching Their Every Move [Crime]

It's one thing to have some sort of "noble purpose" when you grab nudie pics from a person's computer. Extorting people for them and making money off their identities is quite another. That's what 32-year-old Luis Mijangos did, and it's completely vile.

Working out of Santa Ana, the paraplegic Mijangos made about $1000 a week consulting and building websites. Not too shabby. However, he could make up to $3000 a day hacking into people's computers, rooting through their financial data, and causing an unholy mess with people's lives. But it wasn't just the money. He would infect their webcams and microphones, giving him behind the scenes access to people's private activities, and allowing him to blackmail and torture them. According to ComputerWorld:

One victim, a juvenile identified by prosecutors only as S.G., sent Mijangos pornographic photos after he hacked into her computer and tricked her over instant message into believing he was her boyfriend. Mijangos then threatened to post the photos online if she didn't send him more pictures.

Sick. Mijangos went above and beyond what the average identity thief would do and turned it into a twisted game for kiddie porn. He has since gotten six years in prison for his crimes. [ComputerWorld]

Update: I've struck out the paraplegic bit up top. My apologies to those of you who were offended by the mention of Mijangos being a paraplegic. It was added in the interest of completeness, not to be sensational or hurtful. I'll work on the context time.

Image Credit: spaxiax/Shutterstock

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First Quantum Computer Simulator Operates the Speed of Light [Science]

Celebrated physicist Richard Feynman first proposed it in 1982, and now it exists: the first universal, digital quantum simulator.

Austrian scientists, who published how they created the mind-blowing simulator in the September 1 issue of journal Science, haven't yet returned my emails (they're probably popping champers), but they've got to be pretty stoked.

"We show in our experiment that our method works and that we can virtually recreate and investigate many systems," said Benjamin Lanyon from the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, in a press release. "When we want to study another phenomenon, we only need to reprogram our simulator."

Basically, they found a way to process a crapload of information - an amount that would require a supercomputer today - using just a few bits of memory, at close to the speed of light.

The memory is in the form of a handful of trapped ions controlled by laser pulses that can be used to process giant mathematical descriptions of whatever phenomenon a scientist would like to study, such as protein folding, semiconductors, or any other mysterious behavior of super tiny things.

"This is one of those computations that can be done on quantum computers that always takes second fiddle to discussions about cryptography," Slowe said. "Honestly, being able to factor huge numbers is pretty amazing, but being able to efficiently simulate other quantum systems is even more amazing."

Since Feynman's proposal in the '80s, others have made incremental progress on creating a simulator. In 1996, Seth Lloyd showed a standard quantum computer could be programmed to simulate any local quantum system efficiently. Two years ago, some of the same scientists who performed the current work showed an analog simulator was possible. In that experiment, they simulated Zitterbewegung (which means quivering motion, but that sounds way boring compared to Zitterbewegung) of relativistic particles, a phenomenon that had never been observed directly in nature before. In February that same group showed that a quantum computer was possible.

The fully realized simulator opens the door for incredible amounts of information processing.

"Think of it this way," Slowe said. "They did a calculation on a handful of qubits that would probably make your fans kick in on your gigaflop with gigabytes laptop."

[Science]

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The Touchscreen Computer for Old People Unclear on the Concept [Computers]

I hope I never get so old as to require my progeny to buy me an idiot-proofed version of the latest technological innovation—that'd be insulting. But I might just get one of these Telikins for my Mom.

Billed as a "senior-friendly" computer system, the Telikin features an 18-inch capacitive touchscreen, Dual-core 1.8GHz processor, 320GB hard drive, 802.11b/g/n wireless, a 1.3MP webcam for video conferencing with the grandkids, and a suite of basic connectivity software including a text editor, email client, and weather tracking, and news feeds.

Don't get me wrong—I'm well-versed in elderly folks' aversion to new technology. Hell, convincing my grandfather that fuel injection wasn't the work of the devil required a six-month discussion with diagrams. But this—it's like the physical embodiment of AOL's old web portal. For one, the Telikin runs a proprietary software suite that prevents any third party software from being installed—good for preventing Trojans, bad for expanding the system's utility beyond the dozen pre-installed functions that it comes with (of which PowerPoint was somehow deemed necessary).

The 18-inch screen version costs $700 and is ready-to-go out of the box. The upgraded "Elite" version includes a 20-inch screen, 500GB hard drive, HDMI port, and runs $1200. [Telikin]

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Here's How to Rip Apart a Computer and Melt the Circuit Boards for Gold (So You Can Survive the Next Financial Apocalypse) [Gold]

Screw the stock market, screw cash monies, I'm putting everything I have in gold. And you know where you can pan for gold these days? Your old computer. There's always been tiny traces of gold (some as thinner than human hair) on the circuit boards. Just rip 'em and melt 'em for a gold nugget.

At over $1900 an ounce—it's big time money making opportunity! And that's exactly what Jem Stansfield did. He cut apart his old computer circuit boards and ripped his old phone apart (there's gold in the SIM card port and numberpad) and then poured concentrated nitric acid (which dissolves a ton o' stuff) all over it. It didn't get rid of everything so he went bold: he used a concoction of acid to make all the gold disappear. A sorta reverse methodology. Once it turned to this disgusting black milky liquid, he added A LOT of super scientific powder to get gold and then blasted it with intense heat to make it shine once again. All that work and he made this:

I'm not about to suggest you take all your old computers and do the same but WE SHOULD ALL DO THE SAME THING. It's the modern day gold mining, people. Don't be left behind when I'm rolling the dough of multi-thousand dollar bills. Sure, you might melt your hand off with all that acid but gold! Gold! GOLD! Watch the entire video of what Jems Stanfield did here.[BBC]

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