SIGINT, COMINT, Hack it

The talk opens with the speaker's background running a wireless and hardware security firm, and argues that radio now sits behind many everyday systems, from access control and phones to cars. Because radio signals are invisible and often exotic, practitioners need proper instruments rather than consumer gadgets alone, such as a spectrum analyser, a good antenna and software-defined radio hardware. A containerised toolkit that runs across several processor architectures is also presented.

The middle section walks through a workflow: sweep to find an interesting frequency, characterise it with spectrum, waterfall and constellation views, demodulate it, then decode its structure and recover keys where encryption is involved. Examples include tyre pressure sensors, remote keyless entry and rolling codes, garage door programming, FM subcarriers such as RDS and DAB, and a car's Bluetooth link that exposed a Wi-Fi passphrase. Other cases cover GSM downgrades to impersonate a mobile operator, back-end API flaws enabling remote unlocking, and power-line signals leaking from charging cables.

The closing part looks ahead to newer technologies such as V2X and 5G-connected vehicles, where tooling is still immature. The main takeaway is that manufacturers must protect secrets in both firmware and hardware, and that developers who reuse old protocol stacks keep reintroducing known vulnerabilities.