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FindMy Flipper – AirTag and SmartTag Emulator

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31–40 of 69 posts

Re: FindMy Flipper – AirTag and SmartTag Emulator

#31
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

right, I'm actually wondering if one could build an esp32 device that did this itself (i.e. without the need of a flipper zero). Basically something in a similar form factor of an actual air tag. the anti-stalking features make airtags less useful for anti-theft (or theft discovery), as any aware thief can just disable the tag due to the anti-stalking feature (apple does note that its not designed for anti-theft purp…

You can, there's been ESP32 firmware out for years that does this: https://github.com/seemoo-lab/openhaystack/tree/main/Firmwar...

ah, would be easy to extend it to do what I said, just need to store multiple keys and rotate through them on some schedule.

Re: FindMy Flipper – AirTag and SmartTag Emulator

#32
post #19

This concept would possible be used to get around the stalking features that Apple et al has implemented. Ex: Get N donor tags. Have it cycle through the N tags every 24/N hours. Therefore, to apple (/ device tracking), the "stalkee" is never being followed by a single tag for an extended period of time.

If it's not patched yet: I heard you can just power cycle a tag on a timer to evade detection. Add a large battery with a simple timer circuit, remove the beeper and you got yourself an amazing tracking device. IIRC this came up in the context of tracking shipments with expensive equipment, where it can be in transit for many months. The tags are so power efficient that they work for ages on a large battery, existing…

>If it's not patched yet: I heard you can just power cycle a tag on a timer to evade detection

I'm not sure how apple could ever patch it. If you were willing to add a power-cycling microcontroller to your airtag, it wouldn't be that much effort to also add a bank of airtags to cycle through, which would make the apparatus totally indistinguishable from a group of airtags coming in and out of range constantly.

Re: FindMy Flipper – AirTag and SmartTag Emulator

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

right, I'm actually wondering if one could build an esp32 device that did this itself (i.e. without the need of a flipper zero). Basically something in a similar form factor of an actual air tag. the anti-stalking features make airtags less useful for anti-theft (or theft discovery), as any aware thief can just disable the tag due to the anti-stalking feature (apple does note that its not designed for anti-theft purp…

> law enforcement mode > provide legally recognized law enforcement the ability to request the tracking record Where do you live where law enforcement cares about stolen property? 1985 America?

No need to be snarky. There are many places where police does its job.

And in other places you can probably bribe them to do it.

Re: FindMy Flipper – AirTag and SmartTag Emulator

#35
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is purpose of the law enforcement feature? Would it be like donating an AirTag to police?

In the case that one is using an airtag for ant-theft purposes and they do not want to alert the thief of the existence of the airtag while maintaining the intention of the alerts (anti-stalking). ex. You notice your bike is stolen. immediately turn on law enforcement mode. The anti-stalking notifications are disabled but the owner can no longer track the airtag. However, after alerting the police, they could access…

"they could access the location of the device and investigate or recover the bike."

Umm, where do you live that the police give a hoot about a stolen bike? Maybe Japan?

Re: FindMy Flipper – AirTag and SmartTag Emulator

#36
post #22

very interesting project, but one of the downstream dependencies used here is insecure by default: https://github.com/biemster/FindMy/blob/113ebf4017729b92a381... Seems to be auth lib for iCloud. Also seems to hard code a MacBook device agent in order to associate the generated keys with a device. As with anything in the centralized world, I wouldn’t use this on an account with a high number of services/digital asset…

[deleted]

Re: FindMy Flipper – AirTag and SmartTag Emulator

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

right, I'm actually wondering if one could build an esp32 device that did this itself (i.e. without the need of a flipper zero). Basically something in a similar form factor of an actual air tag. the anti-stalking features make airtags less useful for anti-theft (or theft discovery), as any aware thief can just disable the tag due to the anti-stalking feature (apple does note that its not designed for anti-theft purp…

> law enforcement mode > provide legally recognized law enforcement the ability to request the tracking record Where do you live where law enforcement cares about stolen property? 1985 America?

In my experience, their efforts are directly correlated with the tools and information at their disposal. Report stolen property? They’ll take a report. Report the location of stolen property? Much more likely to investigate. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that they are loath to expend a limited amount of resources on anything other than triaged harm reduction. If they can recover stolen property while securing a successful prosecution of the thieves, without exerting a ton of time and effort, they probably will. That said, I have experienced needlessly unhelpful police encounters, so YMMV with pragmatism.

Re: FindMy Flipper – AirTag and SmartTag Emulator

#38
post #9

Still using flipper a few times per week. Looking forward to the next edition with Wi-Fi and other frequencies.

What do you use it for?

Friends and I make keyfobs to our apartment buildings. The HOA fee is $100. But the fob is a few cents.

Re: FindMy Flipper – AirTag and SmartTag Emulator

#39

Has anybody tried this to see how the "Find My" app reacts to seeing the "same" tag in more than one location?

Apple servers don't know anything about the location, so it's up to the implementation (in this case, the FindMy app) to average the location

Re: FindMy Flipper – AirTag and SmartTag Emulator

#40
post #26
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you use it for?

Not OP but I still use mine quite frequently. - My family’s old subhz car keys are dying so I cloned it & use the flipper when the real one doesn’t work. It’s a car from before the 2000s so no security whatsoever. - Apartment, lift, gym rfid. Don’t need to bring multiple sets of cards - IR is also helpful as a backup while I procrastinate going out and buying batteries for some remotes.

I thought many gym and apartment key fobs can’t be replicated due to rolling keys. Has this been addressed or flipper works on older fobs?
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