Power Attacks – Not Just For SIM Cards
Well, I'm awake on time (9 am), done my workout, eating breakfast as we speak and I'm sqeeky clean from my shower. This new morning routine gives me lots of time to ponder before starting my day, and I was reflecting on an interesting happening yesterday. Quickly summing it up, I was able to apply a hacking method for hardware to an AIM conversation, fun huh?
Quick language lesson: Power Attack - The name of a certain type of attack, usually used on hardware, that determines information from power drawn. This was originally used on smart cards where one could determine the encryption key by measuring the power drawn off the card at certain points in authentication.
So yesterday I was having a somewhat personal conversation with a girl who does CS-like stuff at a really cool University (cool in my mind for some working agreements they have with notable social networking sites). She's a good friend and we'd discussed this topic in the past, but for whatever reason I was being very standoffish. I'll take this time to point out there's nothing illicit going on, I just respect the privacy of anyone I talk to, and the conversation topic might identify her to people that know her.
Well conversation turned to a lighter topic, and involved a scientific equation that I try to live by. At most two people in the world (aside from me) know this equation... and its a closely guarded Snarky-Secret, so it shan't be aired just yet, but after I mentioned this equation I noticed the little 'typing' icon on her GAIM window was on for about a minute. After which she replied "Absolutely true". I pointed out that that was an awfully long time to type such a small phrase, and was able to drag the real message out of her.
Now, that's just a stupid little case where a power attack actually worked, but I was darn proud. This shows that, for those of you who aren't hackers (probably a majority of my readers), you can still apply "hacker techniques" to any area of you life, regardless of if there's obvious overlap or not. Here a technique that's normally used against corporations (to find out when they're working), Smart Cards, and keyboards which effectively took down the most powerful defense known to man.... the female mind.
