Destiny 2 Hacker
Ernest Babin
Greetings to HackerBox Hackers around the world. HackerBox 0040 has us experimenting with PIC Microcontrollers, breadboarding, LCD displays, GPS, and more. This Instructable contains information for getting started with HackerBox 0040, which can be purchased here while supplies last. If you would like to receive a HackerBox like this right in your mailbox each month, please subscribe at HackerBoxes.com and join the revolution!
Most importantly, you will need a sense of adventure, hacker spirit, patience, and curiosity. Building and experimenting with electronics, while very rewarding, can be tricky, challenging, and even frustrating at times. The goal is progress, not perfection. When you persist and enjoy the adventure, a great deal of satisfaction can be derived from this hobby. Take each step slowly, mind the details, and don't be afraid to ask for help.
There is a wealth of information for current and prospective members in the HackerBoxes FAQ. Almost all of the non-technical support emails that we receive are already answered there, so we really appreciate your taking a few minutes to read the FAQ.
The PIC family of microcontrollers is made by Microchip Technology. The name PIC initially referred to Peripheral Interface Controller, but was later corrected to Programmable Intelligent Computer. The first parts in the family came out in 1976. By 2013, more than twelve billion individual PIC microcontrollers had been shipped. PIC devices are popular with both industrial developers and hobbyists due to their low cost, wide availability, large user base, extensive collection of application notes, availability of low cost or free development tools, serial programming, and re-programmable Flash-memory capability. (Wikipedia)
HackerBox 0040 includes two PIC Microcontrollers temporarily seated for transport in a ZIF (zero insertion force) socket. The first step it to remove the two PICs from the ZIF socket. Please do that now!
The examples here use the PIC16F628A, however the PIC12F675 works similarly. We encourage you to try it out in a project of your own. Its tiny size makes for an efficient solution when you only need a small number of I/O pins.
After positioning the PIC microcontroller, note the pin 1 indicator. The pins are numbered from pin 1 in a counter-clockwise fashion. Wire pin 5 (VSS) to GND, pin 14 (VDD) to 5V, and pin 2 (RA3) to the LED. Notice in your code, I/O pin RA3 is being cycled on and off to blink the LED. The longer pin of the LED should connect to the PIC, while the shorter pin should connect to a 1K resistor (brown, black, red). The opposite end of the resistor should connect to the GND rail. The resistor simply acts as a current limit so that the LED doesn't look like a short between 5V and GND and draw too much current.
For this PIC experiment, switch from the internal oscillator to a high-speed external crystal oscillator. Not only is the external crystal oscillator faster 16MHz instead of 4MHz), but it is much more accurate.
The PIC16F628A can be used to drive output to a 16x2 Alphanumeric LCD Module (data) when wired up as shown here. The attached file picLCD.c gives a simple example program for writing text output to the LCD module.
The third pin that is necessary is the TX pin. The TX pin outputs a serial stream that can be captured into a computer (via TTL-USB adapter) or into a microcontroller. There are numerous example projects for receiving GPS data into an Arduino.
We hope you have enjoyed this month's voyage into DIY electronics. Reach out and share your success in the comments below or on the HackerBoxes Facebook Group. Certainly let us know if you have any questions or need some help with anything.
Join the revolution. Live the HackLife. You can get a cool box of hackable electronics and computer tech projects delivered right to your mailbox each month. Just surf over to HackerBoxes.com and subscribe to the monthly HackerBox service.
Hacking your destiny is a book stuffed full of tools that will give you superpowers.
Karl has gone above and beyond in his unique storytelling style that really captures you and even transforms the many situations in the book into your own situations.
You can really feel the power of inspiration throughout the book and how the two topics of doing the impossible and empowering yourself with smart methods that Karl talks about in his two TEDx talks.
I especially love the closing page, that really summarizes the feeling that he built throughout the entire book in one sentence.
I now know I can do the Impossible and I know you can do it too after you read this book.
Being dyslexic, Karl had difficulties that he needed to overcome as a child. With a strong will and self-improvement mindset, he now stands as a proud entrepreneur, mentor, husband, and father. This book is written in a format that enables everyone to make what they read into their own experiences.
After returning from a road trip that kept me away from game consoles on Friday and Saturday, I returned to fire up Destiny late Sunday. The special vendor who only appears on weekends was gone so developer Bungie is making me wait another week to progress in the game, but that's another story. I couldn't play for other reasons. I kept getting booted from the game, logged out, and shown a slow-loading error screen which instructed me to head to the Bungie.net website and search for the error code "cattle." This always-only world sucks.
This isn't the first time I've been disconnected during Destiny. Most of the dozen or so times it occurred during a co-op Strike mission or during PvP Crucible matches, making it a real problem for consumers. It's a real problem that most of the time is a server-side issue on Bungie and publisher Activision's end. The online-only Destiny managed to launch without any major server downtime, a refreshing change from other recent unnecessarily-always-online launches including Diablo 3 and SimCity, but that's not necessarily what occurred yesterday.
As it turns out, Call of Duty - Actvision's other flagship property - was also knocked out, and it all may be due to hackers. Again. On September 20th, both Call of Duty: Ghosts and Destiny suffered online connection issues for which hacker group Lizard Squad took credit for, tweeting the following:
Bungie's help account on Twitter acknowledged the connection issues and suspiciously deleted the tweet which originally read, "We're aware of connection issues affecting portions of the Destiny player base and we're working to correct the problem. Please stay tuned." Online hackers aren't the only issue Bungie and Activision are dealing with since as the weeks go by, the game is subject to increasing amounts of criticism regarding its limited content, forceful grinds, punishing loot system (which is being addressed in the next update) and unimpressive upcoming DLC/expansion content if the latest revealing news holds true.
A bipartisan bill introduced last week would have the Department of Homeland Security research what most in cybersecurity refer to as "hacking back": the use of offensive hacking as part of network defense or incident response.
The bill from Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., comes at a time many businesses are at wits end due to the constant onslaught of ransomware and other threats. While the lawmakers wonder if a hack-back strategy could be a powerful deterrent, security experts worry that such reactionary legislation might do even more harm.
Hack back is not a new idea. In 2016, for example, Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., introduced the Active Cyber Defense Certainty (ACDC) Act, which would have allowed businesses to return fire on hackers for the purpose of locating the attacker or recovering stolen files. The bill had nine co-sponsors, both Democrats and Republicans.
Whitehouse said via email that renewed interest in hacking back appears to be the result of a tumultuous year of high-profile hacking incidents, ranging from broad Russian and Chinese intelligence intrusions to a dramatic uptick in ransomware.
The Daines/Whitehouse bill calls for DHS to perform a study on the viability of allowing private entities to take "proportional" actions against hackers under oversight of an appropriate federal agency. DHS would have 180 days to turn in a report.
The bill does not propose a complete framework for hacking back. Generally, hacking back is advocated as a means to generate reconnaissance on who breached a network, rather than inflict a counterattack.
"I think this is a sensible piece of legislation in the sense that it is focused on asking DHS to do a review of the costs and benefits of allowing the private sector to have a more aggressive, offensive stance and capabilities. That makes sense. I think we'll look forward to seeing what the study has to say and then see what the policymakers do about it," said Tom Gann, chief public policy officer for McAfee. "That said, if the report came back and had a big green flashing light, saying, 'Thou shalt hack back. Go for it.' I would be concerned about that."
"This bill, while providing red meat for 'cyber hawks' is a uniquely bad idea and a direct result of electing legislators that have no background in science or technology," said Mike Hamilton, former chief information security officer of Seattle and current CISO of Critical Insight.
Hackers make every effort not to be caught. Even the lowest sophistication intrusions are routed through hijacked intermediary servers or the Tor network. More sophisticated efforts involve more elaborate obfuscation, including attempts to create misattribution. The Olympic Destroyer malware showed what appeared to be deliberate hallmarks of North Korean hacking operations to mask more subtle markers of Russian operations.
"It is very easy for organizations to make errors in the physical world," said Gann. "It's one of the reasons why individuals are not allowed to just go run down robbers and arrest them themselves because the whole art of investigations - the methodology of arrests, the whole process of convicting these - are all authorities only allowed to the state."
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