Speaker 1: All right, let's jump into another deep dive. This time
Speaker 1: it's into something pretty unique.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely unique.
Speaker 1: The International Journal of Proof of Concept or Get.
Speaker 2: The Fuck Out PAC or GTFO for short.
Speaker 1: Exactly PAC or GTFO. We've got a whole stack of
Speaker 1: articles here, and they're all about hacking.
Speaker 2: And vintage tech and some seriously impressive engineering.
Speaker 1: It's a really cool mix it is.
Speaker 2: This issue is curated by well, they call themselves Pastor
Speaker 2: Manul Lafrag. Quite a name, right, and they have some
Speaker 2: pretty strong opinions. Oh yeah, about the current state of
Speaker 2: software exploitation.
Speaker 1: You could say that again.
Speaker 2: I was really struck by the analogy they use, comparing
Speaker 2: it to like the early days of steam power.
Speaker 1: Ah, before people really understood thermodynamics.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. What do you make of that?
Speaker 1: I think it's a really interesting point. They're basically saying that,
Speaker 1: you know, back then, engineers were building these functional steam engines, right,
Speaker 1: but without fully grasping the underlying of physics.
Speaker 2: They knew it worked, but not exactly why precisely, And
Speaker 2: the pastor seems to be suggesting that a lot of
Speaker 2: today's exploit developers.
Speaker 1: They're kind of in the same boat.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're creating things that work, but maybe without that
Speaker 2: deep theoretical understanding.
Speaker 1: So are they saying we need like a more scientific
Speaker 1: approach to hacking exactly.
Speaker 2: They're calling for this balance between building engines, which means
Speaker 2: creating practical exploits, right, creating those practical exploits and then
Speaker 2: constructing theories.
Speaker 1: So building that solid theoretical foundation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, bridging that gap between practice and theory.
Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense. And this issue of
Speaker 1: PC or GTFO it really embodies that, really does. There
Speaker 1: are articles here on everything from hacking satellites to breaking
Speaker 1: copy protection on vintage Apple two games.
Speaker 2: What a range?
Speaker 1: Talk about range?
Speaker 2: Seriously. One that really caught my eye was about hacking
Speaker 2: Global Stars Simplex Data service Global Stars. Yeah, and did
Speaker 2: you know that inner accepting data from.
Speaker 1: Satellites from satellites.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's becoming surprisingly accessible.
Speaker 1: Really. I always thought that was like the.
Speaker 2: Realm of you know, like superspies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, government agencies and supervillains.
Speaker 2: Right, but apparently not anymore. This article it lays out
Speaker 2: the tools and techniques.
Speaker 1: So you're saying like anyone.
Speaker 2: Could do it, well, anyone with the right technical skills
Speaker 2: of course, of course.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but still it's kind of mind blowing it is.
Speaker 2: Of course, there's a difference between intercepting data and actually
Speaker 2: like understanding.
Speaker 1: It, right, being able to actually use it. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: but it's still pretty wild. What else is in there?
Speaker 2: There's this fascinating piece on exploiting unused data type identifiers
Speaker 2: ttis for short in APRS, the Automatic Packet Reporting.
Speaker 1: System used by ham radio operators.
Speaker 2: Right, and it's about creatively repurposing these unused identifiers.
Speaker 1: To hide data exactly, to hide.
Speaker 2: Data within APRS transmissions.
Speaker 1: Hold on, you're saying you can sneak in hidden messes
Speaker 1: through ham radio.
Speaker 2: That's exactly what they're saying.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty ingenious it is, right if bit sneaky, Yeah,
Speaker 1: bit sneaky. Can you give me an example?
Speaker 2: Sure, Imagine you have this DTI let's say zero by
Speaker 2: twenty two, zero by twenty two, and it's not used
Speaker 2: for anything, okay, But it's right next to these valid
Speaker 2: DPIs like zero by twenty one and zero by twenty three, okay,
Speaker 2: which are used for location reporting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you could potentially sneak in some extra data.
Speaker 2: Slip it right in there using that unused DTI. Wow clever,
Speaker 2: But of course there are ethical considerations. Oh yeah, for sure,
Speaker 2: especially if APIs is used for emergencies.
Speaker 1: Right, you don't want to mess with that exactly.
Speaker 2: The article does warrn about the potential consequences.
Speaker 1: Good. Good. Now for something a little more nostalgic. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: there's an article on building a Galaxiga home computer, a
Speaker 1: Galaxiga from scratch using techniques from the nineteen eighties.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's taking it back. It really is.
Speaker 1: And I gotta admit this one. It kind of sparked
Speaker 1: my inner geek. I bet the Galaxiga it was the
Speaker 1: first Yugoslavian home computer.
Speaker 2: Really, I had no idea.
Speaker 1: Yeah, introduced back in nineteen eighty four, eighty four. Wow,
Speaker 1: this article, it gives you detailed instructions on how to build.
Speaker 2: One yourself, like just like they did back then.
Speaker 1: Exactly. It's incredible to think about.
Speaker 2: The ingenuity and the resourcefulness.
Speaker 1: Yeah, back in those early days.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine building a computer from scratch today?
Speaker 1: It would be a completely different experience, right, I mean.
Speaker 2: This article it talks about making jumper wires from telephone wire.
Speaker 1: From telephone wire, yeah.
Speaker 2: And meticulously soldering each component. Wow, it really captures that
Speaker 2: diy spirit.
Speaker 1: There's something really appealing about that. You know, they know
Speaker 1: you can make that satisfaction of creating something so complex
Speaker 1: from basic parts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, from scratch, absolutely.
Speaker 1: And speaking of vintage tech, there's this real gem in here.
Speaker 2: Oh tell me more.
Speaker 1: A comprehensive guide to breaking copy protection way on Apple
Speaker 1: two games.
Speaker 2: Apple two Classic.
Speaker 1: This is the work of Peter Ferry, right.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he's a legend, a.
Speaker 1: Legend in the world of classic game cracking.
Speaker 2: He's uncovered all these techniques.
Speaker 1: For protecting those early games.
Speaker 2: And of course the methods to break them.
Speaker 1: We're talking about manipulating sectors on floppy discs.
Speaker 2: Exploiting vulnerabilities and disk drives, even using self modifying code.
Speaker 2: It's incredible.
Speaker 1: It's constant back and forth, a real arms race between
Speaker 1: the developers and the hackers.
Speaker 2: It's fascinating.
Speaker 1: You know what's amazing is how these early innovations they
Speaker 1: still resonate today.
Speaker 2: You're right, It's like those fundamental principles of security, they
Speaker 2: haven't really changed.
Speaker 1: It's all about understanding the.
Speaker 2: System, find the weak points and exploiting them exactly. Whether
Speaker 2: it's floppy discs or complex software, the core concepts are.
Speaker 1: Often the same, and this issue of PAKC or GTFO.
Speaker 1: It's like a treasure trove of insights, it really is.
Speaker 1: There's an article here on the security of zo wave
Speaker 1: door locks z waves okay, which are becoming really common
Speaker 1: in smart homes. Yeah, for sure, dells into the encryption
Speaker 1: and authentication.
Speaker 2: Highlighting the role of the network key.
Speaker 1: So z wave it relies on this single master key.
Speaker 2: It's a common approach.
Speaker 1: Sounds a bit risky.
Speaker 2: It can be the network key. It's securely shared with
Speaker 2: new devices, okay, but if that key is compromised, then
Speaker 2: what it could give someone control over the whole network,
Speaker 2: including the door locks potentially.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a little unsettling.
Speaker 2: It is a reminder that even with fancy.
Speaker 1: Encryption, there's often that single point of failure.
Speaker 2: Exactly, it can undermine the whole system.
Speaker 1: Wow, it seems like security is this constant cat and
Speaker 1: mouse game.
Speaker 2: It really is.
Speaker 1: And this deep dive into PAC or GTFO it's a
Speaker 1: fascinating glimpse into that battle.
Speaker 2: It is. We've covered so much already.
Speaker 1: From satellite hacking to building vintage computers and cracking those
Speaker 1: classic games.
Speaker 2: There's still so much more to explore.
Speaker 1: We've only just scratched the surface.
Speaker 2: Stay tuned for Part two, will dive into.
Speaker 1: Even more more fascinating and technical insights coming right up
Speaker 1: after a short break back again and ready for more
Speaker 1: from Poke c or GTFO.
Speaker 2: You know, going through these articles, Yeah, I'm just blown
Speaker 2: away by the ingenuity.
Speaker 1: And creativity for sure of the people behind this journal.
Speaker 1: It's really something.
Speaker 2: They're not just demonstrating exploits. They're like pushing boundaries, shooting
Speaker 2: the limits absolutely often in these really creative ways. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: very creative.
Speaker 1: Okay, speaking of creative, there's this article that dives into
Speaker 1: arm debugging rmdbugging using something called the Serial wire DBUG PROTOCOLSWDD. Yeah,
Speaker 1: can you break that down a little.
Speaker 2: So SWD it gives you this really low level access
Speaker 2: to these ARM micro controllers deep access. Yeah. Basically lets
Speaker 2: you peek inside and manipulate.
Speaker 1: How the chip works.
Speaker 2: You got it.
Speaker 1: That's power, very powerful. It's like a secret back door.
Speaker 2: That's a great way to put it. The author drives goodspeed.
Speaker 2: He does this fantastic job. Yeah, he's great of explaining
Speaker 2: this really complex protocol, making it understandable exactly. And he
Speaker 2: even built this tool called SP eight two sixty six
Speaker 2: arms DD.
Speaker 1: SP eight two sixty six arms DBD. Okay, what does
Speaker 1: that even do?
Speaker 2: It's an Arduino sketch basically turns this cheap esbaight two
Speaker 2: sixty six WiFi module.
Speaker 1: Into an SWD debugger exactly. So like with a little
Speaker 1: know how, you can wirelessly debug these micro controllers.
Speaker 2: That's the idea.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's pretty impressive. It is this Travis goodspeed. He's
Speaker 1: quite the tinker, isn't he?
Speaker 2: He really is. And he takes it even further talking
Speaker 2: about this future where SWD could be used for what
Speaker 2: he calls it literate reverse engineering.
Speaker 1: Literate reverse engineering.
Speaker 2: Yeah, imagine being able to interact with hardware okay, and
Speaker 2: document it in real time, wow, using like web based
Speaker 2: tools and all thanks.
Speaker 1: To SWD exactly. That's a really cool concept. It kind
Speaker 1: of ties back to that, uh breaking the gap, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the gap between practice.
Speaker 2: And the pastor was talking about.
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. But let's switch gears for a moment. Okay, Sure,
Speaker 1: there's this other article I just have to ask you about.
Speaker 1: It's titled ox Beef and ox Cafe Hacking a Digital
Speaker 1: pregnancy test for fun and nonprofit.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, this one's a wild one.
Speaker 1: That title alone, right, So what's the story here.
Speaker 2: Well, the author Amanda Wosney.
Speaker 1: Act Amanda Wosniak.
Speaker 2: Okay, she was actually contracted to reverse engineer a pregnancy test.
Speaker 1: A pregnancy test.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but she never got paid for her work.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's rough.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So she decided to publish her findings in this
Speaker 2: journal exactly.
Speaker 1: This makes her a pretty unique article, right.
Speaker 2: Definitely unique. So what she did was she delves into
Speaker 2: the hardware and firmware of like a typical digital pregnancy test, Okay,
Speaker 2: and she explains how it actually detects those those blue.
Speaker 1: Lines, the blue lines. Yeah.
Speaker 2: It turns out there's an optical fencer really yeah, and
Speaker 2: a micro controller.
Speaker 1: So it's more complex than just a simple chemical react
Speaker 1: much more.
Speaker 2: There's actual computing going on in there.
Speaker 1: Wow. That's uh, that's surprising.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And she even outlines how you could potentially like
Speaker 2: mess with it, well, manipulate the LCD display to show
Speaker 2: custom messages.
Speaker 1: So you can make it say whatever you want theoretically. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's thinking outside the box.
Speaker 2: Right. Okay, let's get back to something we touched on earlier.
Speaker 1: Okay, what's that.
Speaker 2: Breaking copy protection on those vintage Apple two games?
Speaker 1: Ah? Yes, that's a classic.
Speaker 2: There's a whole section dedicated to this. Actually, it's a
Speaker 2: gold mine of information.
Speaker 1: For retro game hacking.
Speaker 2: Peter Ferry. He really goes deep, covering everything from sector manipulation,
Speaker 2: which is it's about how the data is arranged on
Speaker 2: the floppy disc, to self modifying code, which is where
Speaker 2: the program actually changes its own instructions as it's running.
Speaker 1: Why.
Speaker 2: It's wild.
Speaker 1: It's mind boggling the effort that went into all.
Speaker 2: This, both protecting and circumventing those protections in the day,
Speaker 2: and it was this constant arms.
Speaker 1: Race between developers and hackers. And you can see the
Speaker 1: evolution of those techniques over time.
Speaker 2: It's really fascinating.
Speaker 1: It's amazing how these early innovations they still matter today.
Speaker 2: They do right, It's like the fundamentals of security, they
Speaker 2: haven't really changed that much.
Speaker 1: It's still about understanding the system, finding the weak point,
Speaker 1: and exploiting them exactly. Okay, speaking of exploiting systems, there's
Speaker 1: an article that really peaked my curiosity with that. It's
Speaker 1: called DMR Digital Mobile Radio DMR, and it goes into
Speaker 1: this world of two way radio hacking.
Speaker 2: Interesting. So DMR stands for digital mobile radio and it's
Speaker 2: used by a lot of different groups, amateur radio enthusiasts okay,
Speaker 2: even emergency services.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, so important stuff.
Speaker 2: This article focuses on a specific radio, the Tiara MD three.
Speaker 1: Eighty that t Tara MD three eighty okay, and the author,
Speaker 1: Travis Goodspeed oh am again shows you how to.
Speaker 2: Reverse engineer the radio's bootloader. Bootloader, Yeah, that's the initial
Speaker 2: program that runs when the device starts up.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: He explains how to bypass security predictions. Yeah, even modify
Speaker 2: the firmware to add new.
Speaker 1: Features, so you could basically like take control of the
Speaker 1: radios software essentially. Yeah, that seems like you could have
Speaker 1: some uh, pretty serious implications.
Speaker 2: It definitely could. The article talks about things like eavesdroppings, dropping,
Speaker 2: and private conversations, potentially even disrupting communications.
Speaker 1: That's a bit unsettling, it is.
Speaker 2: It highlights the importance of understanding these vulnerabilities, even.
Speaker 1: In devices we might not think of as being hackable,
Speaker 1: exactly like a two way radio.
Speaker 2: You wouldn't think of it, right.
Speaker 1: It raises questions about the balance between security and accessibility.
Speaker 1: For sure, as tech gets more complex, how do we
Speaker 1: keep things secure? Yeah, but also usable? It's a tough question,
Speaker 1: a question we'll be dealing with for a while. I think, well,
Speaker 1: we've covered a lot in this part of our deep dive.
Speaker 2: We have from pregnancy tests to two way radios.
Speaker 1: This issue of POSSE or GTFO has it all.
Speaker 2: There's one more article we should discuss.
Speaker 1: Okay, what's next? All right, we're back for the final
Speaker 1: part of our deep dive into POSSE or GTFO. And
Speaker 1: there's this one last article.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm.
Speaker 1: Really curious about. It involves something called a polyglot.
Speaker 2: Polyglot sounds kind of like a Harry Potter.
Speaker 1: Spell or something I know, right, But in this context,
Speaker 1: a polyglot is it's a file.
Speaker 2: That can be interpreted in multiple formats.
Speaker 1: Like it can be read as different things exactly.
Speaker 2: This article it describes how to create.
Speaker 1: A PDF, okay, PDF.
Speaker 2: That can also be read as a ZIP archive.
Speaker 1: Wait, so it's both a PDF and a ZPR.
Speaker 2: And a PostScript program.
Speaker 1: All at the same time. How is that even possible?
Speaker 2: It's all about how you structure the file format, you know, Okay,
Speaker 2: By embedding different types of data in specific sections.
Speaker 1: You can kind of trick different programs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you make it so it can be understood in
Speaker 2: different ways.
Speaker 1: That's that's incredible, like a digital chameleon, is.
Speaker 2: Right, it changes depending on who's looking at it.
Speaker 1: And the author's Evan sultanic In Philip Tuwen.
Speaker 2: Yeah. They walk you through the whole process, step by step,
Speaker 2: explaining the challenges and workarounds. It's really cool.
Speaker 1: It must take some serious knowledge of file formats to
Speaker 1: pull that off.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: It's amazing. These hackers. They're not just exploiting systems, they're
Speaker 1: like bending the structure of information itself.
Speaker 2: It's pretty mind blowing when you think about it.
Speaker 1: Speaking of bending things to your will, there's this article
Speaker 1: on reverse engineering.
Speaker 2: Reverse engineering.
Speaker 1: Okay, the classic game Star Raiders.
Speaker 2: The Star Raiders Classic. I spent hours on that game.
Speaker 1: I know, right, So the author Lorenz.
Speaker 2: Wisest Lorenz wisest He.
Speaker 1: Actually reverse engineered the entire game, the whole thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: created this fully documented assembly language source code.
Speaker 2: Wow. So he figured out how the whole game.
Speaker 1: Works down to the code.
Speaker 2: That's amazing.
Speaker 1: He explains the process, like how he deciphered the game's logic,
Speaker 1: the graphic, even the math behind the spaceship rotation.
Speaker 2: It's incredible the detail he goes into.
Speaker 1: He even mentioned something called the core algorithm, quordic algorithm,
Speaker 1: coordinate rotation digital computer. Okay, I'm following, and it's this,
Speaker 1: it's this mathematical trick, a trick, yeah, used to calculate
Speaker 1: trigonometric functions.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: The developers of Star Raiders, they used it to make
Speaker 1: the spaceship rotate smoothly even with.
Speaker 2: The limited processing power back then.
Speaker 1: Pretty clever, right, very clever.
Speaker 2: This article really gives you a look inside.
Speaker 1: The inner workings of a classic.
Speaker 2: Game and the minds of the people who made it.
Speaker 1: It's inspiring.
Speaker 2: Definitely.
Speaker 1: Well, this deep dive into posse or GTFO has been
Speaker 1: quite a journey, it has.
Speaker 2: We've seen some incredible stuff.
Speaker 1: Hacking techniques from across decades.
Speaker 2: Covering all sorts of tech.
Speaker 1: It's amazing.
Speaker 2: I think it's safe to say that post c or
Speaker 2: GTFO liz up to its name.
Speaker 1: It does. It's proof that there's always more to learn,
Speaker 1: more to explore, more to understand about the systems around us.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and you know, it makes you think about the
Speaker 2: Pastor's analogy.
Speaker 1: About building engines versus constructing theories. Yeah, like a lot
Speaker 1: of these articles, they're trying to do both.
Speaker 2: They're showing us the practical side of hacking, but also
Speaker 2: encouraging us to think deeper about the underlying principles.
Speaker 1: So why behind the how?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not just about hacking for the sake of it.
Speaker 1: It's about understanding the system, the consequences, the ethical side
Speaker 1: of things.
Speaker 2: Responsible exploration, sharing knowledge.
Speaker 1: That's what makes this journal so fascinating. Absolutely, well, I
Speaker 1: think it's time to wrap up this deep dive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on this exploration of POC or GTFO.
Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
Speaker 1: As always, keep your minds open, stay curious, and may
Speaker 1: your code always be proof of concept material.
Speaker 2: Amen to that.