Might Be A Spy -Project Details-

Might Be A Spy

                                      by  Yoki Lee Yung Ki

Might Be a Spy is an art project which aims to address the vulnerability of smart-devices charging through USB connections. It presents an earthy, yet conceptually distant and unenlightened technological threat as an actual experience to users. Thus, by giving an example of low-tech, analog solutions to tackle digital pitfalls, it explores the inherent tension between physicality and conceptuality of computer technologies.




The project make use of Processing as the interface output, and USBDeview as the source of USB connection status. A .txt file containing information of only connected devices with serial numbers are generated from USBDeview.exe. Hence, a Processing sketch takes the file as an input and executes conditional commands. When there are no smart-devices connected or connections are made through a USB condom, the screen shows an image with a "Charge Me" message;  while when a smart-device is connected directly (without the USB condom), the screen shows a set of playful images to indicate the possibility of non-consent data-transfer. For the physical part, a USB condom is made by simply connecting the corresponding power lines of the male and female USB drive together. The two pins in between are soldered together respectively on both drives. 

It is presented in a fun, humorous way that it relates literally to the function of condoms. The sexual appeal is implied as a resemblance of spying practice: sex as the mean of accessing private information (as in Hollywood films). An image of a male character in costume is used not only to enhance the playfulness, but it also contributes to the gender balance of the project.

The project is inspired by a similar project done by Wall of Sheep and posts on Instructables.

Disclaimer: all images used in this project are either original or free of copy rights.

Download the source codes here.

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Yoki is a Taiwanese-Japanese artist interested in interactions and relationships. Her art form diverges from photography, objects, sculptures, installations and writings. She is currently a BAS final-year student at School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong.

Final Project Progress Update

The USB Condom

Tested. Working fine.

The apk file

An apk file is created with GREAT help from http://www.appsgeyser.com/.

You can download the blueprint from here.
This apk file contains 3 images which comes together as a live wallpaper. Yet, it is not shown until the user press the "set as wallpaper " button.

However, adjustments should be made to better match the project design. For instance, show the contained images directly once the apk file is installed.

Project Description briefly updated

Might Be a Spy is a project launched to address the vulnerability of smartphone charging through USB connections. As part of the project, a charging booth equipped with a pre-programmed ic is placed in public. While the charger is connected to a supporting device directly, this apk file would be automatically installed on the connected device. 

A set of warning images would pop up on the screen; however whilst the connection is made through a provided USB condom, the project setup would function as a normal(safe) charging spot.

Might Be a Spy presents an earthy, yet conceptually distant and unenlightened technological threat as an actual experience to users. Thus, it gives an example of low-tech, analog solutions to tackle digital pitfalls.

Risky Items

1) How to program the push-download & installation of the apk file??
               Arduino command line build not yet tested
               Seems to be complicated with reference to the Arduino Playground...
2) How to modify the apk file?
              Which part should I modify so I can skip the need to manually setting the images as the wallpaper?

Final project

Might Be a Spy.

                                          -project by Lee Yung Ki, Yoki

Might Be a Spy is a project launched to address the vulnerability of smartphone charging through USB connections. As part of the project, a charging booth equipped with a pre-programmed ic is placed in public. When the charging port is idle, a screen would show images advertising the free charging function of the booth. Hence, while the charger is connected to a supporting device directly, a warning poster would pop up on the screen with 5-seconds countdown, followed by disclosure of data extracted from the connected device; whilst if the connection is made through a provided USB condom, the device would function as a normal(safe) charging booth.  

The prototype of the charging booth only supports Android devices. The hacking of data from devices would either based on SDK/ADB commands directly, or by automatic download of APK files to the connected device.

Might Be a Spy presents an earthy, yet conceptually distant, unenlightened technological threat as an actual experience to users. Thus, it gives an example of low-tech, analog solutions to tackle digital pitfalls.

Yoki is an artist whose work diverges from writing, objects, installations, photography and animation.

a glimpse on final project

final project references

MACTANS: INJECTING MALWARE INTO IOS DEVICES VIA MALICIOUS CHARGERS

https://media.blackhat.com/us-13/US-13-Lau-Mactans-Injecting-Malware-into-iOS-Devices-via-Malicious-Chargers-WP.pdf


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http://www.extremetech.com/computing/187279-undetectable-indefensible-security-flaw-found-in-usb-its-time-to-get-your-ps2-keyboard-out-of-the-cupboard

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https://github.com/Galvant/usb_wrapper-pcb

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A cross-platform software protocol library and tools to communicate with iOS® devices natively.

http://www.libimobiledevice.org/

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HOW TO PUT A TROJAN ON IOS AND SPY AN IPHONE OR IPAD
https://locurayarte.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/2298/

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http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5307406/ddms-source-extending-ddms

notes on Final Project Ideas

http://www.cracked.com/article_20345_5-terrifying-smartphone-hacks-you-wont-believe-are-possible.html

http://www.wallofsheep.com/pages/tools-training

1) usb condoms


img src: http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-a-USB-Condom/

2) Spoofing sensor ID on smartphones

ref: https://crypto.stanford.edu/gyrophone/sensor_id.pdf

ref:  http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2013/10/10/stanford-researchers-discover-alarming-method-for-phone-tracking-fingerprinting-through-sensor-flaws/

ref: http://news.discovery.com/tech/gear-and-gadgets/smartphones-motion-sensor-is-unique-can-id-you-131014.htm

List of Control

1) Google map tracked my location even when the GPS+wi-fi is turned off. Thus, it combined my search history on Google search engine and made assumption/adjustment of where I've stayed for some while. (In the 2nd image, it was right that I've been to soho/lkf, however the exact locations of where I spent my time was not true. It indicates spots of which I googled, but not where I actually went to.)

2)  Reaction to ad-blocker on the guardians website.

3) Designed/determined flow of people in shopping mall