So… You want to build your own hacking device…

This introductory talk is aimed at people who want to build their own small hacking and IoT gadgets. The speaker, a penetration tester, explains why building your own hardware can be cheaper and more flexible than buying commercial tools such as the Flipper Zero, which is costly to lose on a drone. He compares microcontroller boards, including the ESP32, Raspberry Pi Pico and Arduino Nano, on wireless support, voltage requirements and memory, and then contrasts MicroPython with Arduino C for programming them.

Next he covers prototyping approaches, moving from breadboards for quick tests to perforated boards and custom-fabricated boards for devices that need to be mobile or sold. He recommends starter kits with good documentation, and advises checking whether a part has MicroPython examples and whether it has reached end of life. Two example projects follow. The first is a portable connectivity monitor that uses an LED and a small screen to show whether the internet is up. The second is a Wi-Fi captive-portal device that imitates a network login page to collect submitted passwords, with a design built around remote retrieval and limited visibility.

The talk closes with ways to improve a build, such as better enclosures, remote configuration and logging, and it lists further ideas like access point scanners, chat alerts and RF experiments. In audience questions, the speaker discussed when to use Bluetooth configuration instead of onboard buttons and screens, and which IDE suits MicroPython. The takeaway is to start small with a kit, experiment, and iterate on each device.