tunnelsup.com
Security and privacy
covert remote access device
SHOW HN2013
How HN took it
1 positive, 13 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 6 critical, out of 20 comments about the project. Thread score -0.22.
Idea: 1 for, 2 againstDesign: 0 for, 2 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Cool project and a fun build.
From 2 comments
Cool project, I've thought about doing something similar and bought a gumstix for roughly this reason before the Pis were out (although power is harder to figure out on Gumstix).…
brokentone on HNThese things are fun, and certainly not new. You can buy devkits that already look quite unobtrusive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SheevaPlug The one in this article looks like a…
mrmekon on HN
Objections
Reinvents existing penetration-testing drop-box tools such as pwnpi and Power Pwn.
From 2 comments
The use of physical drop boxes placed behind a firewall is nothing new. There is in fact a specific Linux distro for the Rasberry Pi targeted at this use case (see…
decauth on HNhttp://pwnieexpress.com/products/power-pwn
mey on HN
Exposed SSH access to the device is a security risk; use a limited account.
From 3 comments
Someone who finds the brick can ssh into his server... that seems weird.
thu on HNYou should be able to limit the account that it's ssh-ing into so that it's just used for the tunnel. Or if you're really paranoid, limit the entire thing to a dedicated virtual…
omh on HNA few suggestions: SCP'ing the public key directly to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys could overwrite the file if it already exists. It's better to use 'ssh-copy-id', which takes care of…
aseidl on HN
The power adapter placed on the board is a fire and short-circuit hazard.
From 2 comments
These things are fun, and certainly not new. You can buy devkits that already look quite unobtrusive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SheevaPlug The one in this article looks like a…
mrmekon on HNIs the power adapter board sitting on top of the Pi? They should be separated by some panel to avoid shortcircuits and/or feeding mains power into it. It looks like there's…
lgeek on HN
Requests
Use a Tor or I2P hidden service instead of a plain SSH tunnel.
From 2 comments
A tor hidden service with ssh is a great way to set up a reverse tunnel: https://www.torproject.org/docs/hidden-services.html.en
dfc on HNSetting I2P up on the RPi then setting ssh up to listen on a I2P hidden service on the RPi would be better than the method shown. That way if the device is discovered it would be…
benkillin on HN
Use autossh with a restart daemon for reliable tunnels.
From 2 comments
A few suggestions: SCP'ing the public key directly to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys could overwrite the file if it already exists. It's better to use 'ssh-copy-id', which takes care of…
aseidl on HNActually you can write a nice little script that treats autossh like a daemon and restarts it if it crashes. I did something like that on Arch linux. Also it's probably a good…
Fuxy on HN
Questions
Why not use a smaller, cheaper router-based device?
From 1 comment
For the purpose of physical drop boxes, there are much better tools than a Pi. For example this one http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr703n is cheaper (< $20), smaller,…
riobard on HN
Alternatives named
pwnpi and Pwnie Express Power Pwn
From 2 comments
The use of physical drop boxes placed behind a firewall is nothing new. There is in fact a specific Linux distro for the Rasberry Pi targeted at this use case (see…
decauth on HNhttp://pwnieexpress.com/products/power-pwn
mey on HN
Pagekite
From 1 comment
https://pagekite.net/
urza on HN
WiFi Pineapple
From 1 comment
Here's a similar project based on another similar project that's been around for quite some time: http://penturalabs.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/blue-for-the-pineapple/ Original…
bluetooth on HN