Built for speed
An Oregon hardware hacker and author has been charged by
coppers after they discovered that he was selling unlocked cable modems that
can be used to get extra speed from a broadband provider, or obtain free
service.
Ryan Harris, who is better known by his pen name
DerEngel, was charged in Boston with a conspiracy count, and charges of aiding
and abetting computer intrusion and wire fraud. Harris is the project organizer of TCNiSO, a band of
tinkerers specializing in cable modem hacking. For five years the group has
been producing tutorials on how to bypass the firmware locks on Motorola
Surfboard modems. This invokes soldering a special cable to a hidden
terminal inside the device, or exploiting a buffer overflow in the modem’s web
interface.
TCNiSO flogs pre-modded modems for $100 which are already
loaded with the group’s custom firmware, which lets the user control the
modem’s functionality. The gear is used as a tool by cable modem “uncappers,”
who use the customized modems to crank up the speed of their internet access by
downloading special configuration files from an ISP’s server. They can also be used to get free service by spoofing
another customer’s MAC address.
Harris has publicly distanced himself from the criminal
applications of his work and never taught people how to do it. The charges mostly focus on the antics of a juvenile
computer hacker known as “Dshock” downloaded TCNiSO’s firmware and used it to
steal broadband. Since Dshock was one of the thousands of people to use the
TCNiSO site, Harris has been charged.
Harris said he is not going to plead guilty and his
unlocked modems have legitimate uses.