GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

Post by tsotha » Sat, Mar 07, 2015, 7:14 AM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #54

markrages wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The enterprising hacker could always use a LabSat[1] device to play back a bogus GPS trace. No physical connection to the board is required. [1] http://www.labsat.co.uk

It's so much easier to just keep passing it around to your friends so they can attach it to as many different cars (or other kinds of vehicle) as possible. Imagine what your fans in government would think if the logs of your car included long periods over water or a trip to the stratosphere or a trek through the woods. Or they decided to find you once you decided to seemingly leave civilization behind to discover you…

Post by tsotha » Sat, Mar 07, 2015, 7:16 AM UTC

kh_hk wrote: post #50

serf wrote: post #42

looks like Private Investigator catalog equipment in the states. Big, clunky, and built to suit a million different uses. Dev board + sensors + 3g = a million different reconfigurable spy toys. Although I hope it's a three-letter agency, because that'd make me a bit less frightened of them. Also, I don't know why everyone is up-in-arms about the solder job quality. Rip apart a Chinese Futaba-knockoff RC transmitter,…

According to the media article linked on the submission, the activist was stopped for a "routine search" of the car for more than one hour on the frontier with France by spanish national police (CNP). One week ago she was stopped again near the city were this convention took place. So yeah, even if this is private investigator grade hardware, according to the info available it would not surprise me if this was either…

Post by Icombine » Sat, Mar 07, 2015, 7:24 AM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #52

jrockway wrote: post #3

I guess it's a sad world when I breathe a sigh of relief upon seeing that this didn't take place in the US. I like how the agency gummed over the chip silkscreens so you can't see what chips they're using. Even though it's obvious that one is flash, another is a GPS module, and the third is the micro. And it appears that some scraping will show you the part numbers anyway. Amateur hour.

The goop on the chips is the funniest part - I've taken apart various bits of equipment (mostly from China) and they often attempt to obscure the part numbers to obfuscate, but even they know to grind/laser them off instead of putting goop on top... and it's still possible to figure out what they are just by their package and pinouts. The low integration of the design suggests that it's probably at least 5 or more ye…

Post by TaylorAlexander » Sat, Mar 07, 2015, 7:50 AM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #54

markrages wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The enterprising hacker could always use a LabSat[1] device to play back a bogus GPS trace. No physical connection to the board is required. [1] http://www.labsat.co.uk

It's so much easier to just keep passing it around to your friends so they can attach it to as many different cars (or other kinds of vehicle) as possible. Imagine what your fans in government would think if the logs of your car included long periods over water or a trip to the stratosphere or a trek through the woods. Or they decided to find you once you decided to seemingly leave civilization behind to discover you…

Post by FranOntanaya » Sat, Mar 07, 2015, 8:00 AM UTC

lotharbot wrote: post #34

pmccall777 wrote: post #15

They missed a golden opportunity to attach the device to a politician, high ranking official, or executive's car.

Or more simply, just throw it in the back of a passing pickup truck (like in "Short Circuit", when Number 5 realizes he's being tracked by a beacon in his vehicle. Unfortunately I can't find the clip on youtube.)