The F-BOMB: A tiny $50 spying computer for DARPA

[sparky]

The F-BOMB: A tiny $50 spying computer for DARPA
Posted on 30 January 2012.

Everyone loves a cheap but effective solution, and DARPA - the US Department of Defense's agency for developing new military technologies - is no exception.

As ShmooCon's visitors have witnessed on Friday when one of the winners of the agency's Cyber Fast Track program took the stage, it is possible to create an effective spying gadget for less than $50.

Security researcher Brendan O’Connor used commercial, off-the-shelf parts such as those contained in a PogoPlug mini-computer, a micro antenna, eight gigabytes of flash memory and customizable plastic casing, to construct his F-BOMB (Falling or Ballistically-launched Object that Makes Backdoors), which can be easily deployed and costs so little that it is perfectly expendable.

The project required him to make the gadget tiny in size (it's 4 inches wide, 3.5 inches long, less than 1 inch high), had multiple wireless radios, had a long battery life (it can be plugged in indefinitely, and if not, it's powered by AA batteries that make it operate for a few hours), had USB capability for expansions (GPS tracking capability and similar), and had reasonable storage space (8 GB).

He showed how it can be configured as a flight case, a drop case, masquerade as a CO detector or a barometer.


See the full story http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=12310

[PMC]

DARPA invests in many things... spy cameras are nothing new... cheap is new !

The company in this piece sells cameras, and they have network spy issues with their software.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16919664