The Troll: The Infrared Module

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 One of the more harmless but also immediately eye-catching features of the flipper is infrared transceiver. This module allows the user to send and receive light in the infrared light spectrum, the same spectrum used by TV remotes among other things.

From the beginning, videos of chuckling teens muting TVs at sports bars, changing the channel in waiting rooms, and turning off the menu screens at fast food joints have been flooding the internet. So how much of this is real and how much is fiction?

Well, this one is largely true, even if it's not quite as simple as the videos say. You see, in much the same way as some of the other modules I've written about can copy a code and emulate it, the infrared can do the same thing. However, unlike key cards, TVs almost universally use a set of default codes, hence the existence of universal remotes. Anyone with a Flipper can easily set it to run through these default codes to change the channel, mute, or completely turn off a TV. In may take a minute to cycle through to the right code, however.

Now, that doesn't mean that everyone making these videos is being honest. Some of the more popular fast food restaurant videos show a completely messed up digital sign showing something like a terminal interface. These videos will be posted by people proudly proclaiming to be the one responsible for this meltdown, usually alluding to their various arsenal of hacking abilities. Such people are either 14 year olds trying to impress their crush or 26 year olds living in their parents' basement. In any case, they probably know as much about hacking as they do about personal hygiene; that is, nothing.

All jokes aside, what's really happening in these videos is that the display, or rather the unit running the display, is having unrelated technical difficulties and the Flipper-toting wannabe is trying to take credit.

Now, want to learn how to look cool the right way and one of the most exploitable vulnerabilities in modern computers? Next time, I'll get on the fun ones, starting with BadUSB. 

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