The Wired Equivalent Privacy is an encryption algorithm that was introduced in 1997 for securing wireless networks and was designed to offer the privacy of a wired network in a wireless one. Known to have security flaws since 2001, WEP was superseded by WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) in recent years, but is still used in many wireless networks.

BackTrack is a Linux distribution which is distributed as a Live CD and can be used for performing security tests and other various tasks. Using BackTrack’s command line, called Konsole, and a few nifty commands, you can crack the WEP encryption and log onto the network. This tutorial uses BackTrack version 3, as version 4 is only in pre-release stage.

First and foremost, you will need a wireless adapter capable of packet injection and, of course, a wireless network nearby that uses WEP. The first thing you need to do is get a list of network interfaces and then fake a MAC address on your network interface. Next, you get a list of wireless network interfaces and look for one that uses WEP encryption. The final step is collecting enough data packets to make the crack successful (this requires that the signal is strong, so collecting of the data doesn’t take ages).

WEP has been cracked before and you can find lots of other tutorials on the Internet, so it’s no secret that it’s not a secure encryption standard. This one though can help even someone with just a little networking experience to successfully crack WEP. It only takes a few adequate tools and a little patience and voila! – you’re hacking. Detailed BackTrack commands, as well as screenshots and additional information is available in the link.

BackTrack WEP Cracking: [Link] – [via]

Another useful application for a LED dot matrix display, well useful for those who use twitter. The purpose of the project is simple, it scrolls your twitters on the led matrix, this way you don’t have to be in front of your computer to see what’s new. Source codes and info about building it is provided by the author. The matrix is controlled by an Arduino

Physical LED Twitter Scrolls Your Twitters: [Link]

     

This project teaches you how to build a lamp that can change color, and can be controlled by a computer. Simple Python and C programs for your PC or Mac are provided that let you program color patterns into the lamp. Implementing the weather forecast and other ideas are then up to you. Web scraping with wget is easy if you understand a scripting language. The whole project should cost under 100 euro, half of which is for the lamp (glass ball, LED module, microcontroller, and odds and ends), and the other half for the flash programmer if you don’t have one. So considering you already have a programmer, the project should not set you back too much.

Computer controlled RGB Lamp: [Link]

If you like both electronics and PC Car Racing games you’ve gotta have this gadget. On the latest version the author used a nice 4 needle gauge, and the result neat. You will definitely improve your gaming experience with one of these. Its not cheap though and you’ll have to know something about micro-controllers to build it.  The actual project also features control buttons in case you need some extra buttons on your controller.

USB controlled Gauge Speedometer: [Link]

RGB LED Email Notifier: [Link]

This is a physical hit counter.It is used to count page-hits on the website instead of using software only.The counter will be connected to rs232 port through a few of electronic components that performs as a counter driver and power supply circuit. The circuit is based on MAX7219 and 7-segment common cathode LED display x 8 digits. MAX7219 is a 8-Digit LED Display Drivers with serial interface which makes it ideal for this project and really easy to implement.

I will sure build one of these for myself, with some minor tweaks, it will look great on my desk . I will write about it in a following article so Subscribe by RSS or email to get the news from this blog.

Electronic Hit Counter: [Link]

This is a small device designed to receive and transmit PS2 commands. The ATmega168 can receive PS2 commands from a mouse or keyboard and pass them out to a terminal or computer. Power is obtained from the computer or terminal over PS2. This device was originally designed to count the number of keystrokes in our Key Counter tutorial. A good, simple development board for the ATmega168 and the PS2 protocol.

PS2 keyboard key counter: [Link]

I wish i would of presented this project earlier, since it is such a great prank for April the 1st, better luck next year with this prank. The bug based on a ATTiny45 micro-controller was designed to be plugged in into an available USB port, and to remain there unnoticeable. The bug than takes control of the caps lock function turning it on and off. You must imagine that the person sitting at that computer will go nuts trying to figure what’s happening. The bug is versatile and can be reprogrammed to take control of any key you wish.

Tiny USB caps locker bug: [Via] – [Link]