[iwar] Historical posting
From: Fred Cohen
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Mon, Jan 1, 1999
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Date: Mon, Jan 1, 1999
From: Fred Cohen
Reply-To: iwar@egroups.com
Subject: [iwar] Historical posting
[EDITOR'S NOTE: As if there isn't already enough information on HERF on
the Internet, thanks to Kevin Poulsen (can anyone remember his hacker
name?) ZDNN has given it full press.]
Zap! ... and your PC's dead
By Kevin Poulsen, ZDNN
September 9, 1999 5:44 PM PT
URL:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2331772,00.html?chkpt=hpqs014
WASHINGTON -- With $500 and a trip to the hardware store, saboteurs can
build a device capable of remotely disrupting computers, automobiles,
medical equipment and nearly anything else dependant on electronics,
according to a California engineer who demonstrated a homebrew computer
death-ray at the InfowarCon '99 conference here Wednesday. Former Navy
engineer David Schriner showed off an unwieldy device constructed from a
parabolic reflector, a horn antenna and two automotive ignition coils,
which he aimed at two personal computers about 20 feet away.
When an assistant activated the Rube Goldberg contraption by connecting
it to a car battery, the conference room filled with a loud buzzing from
the PA system and a PowerPoint presentation on the projection screen
flickered and scattered. One of the computers instantly dropped out of
its screen saver.
When the device was switched off, both PCs were frozen, and wouldn't
respond to keyboard input.
HERF emissions a killer The effects of High Energy Radio Frequency
(HERF) emissions on electronics are well known among engineers, and
info-warriors have expressed concern that adversarial nations may
someday include computer-killing devices in their arsenals.
Military aircraft are built with hardened electronics designed to
survive the electromagnetic pulse created by a nuclear detonation.
Schriner theorized that a single nuclear weapon designed specifically
for the purpose, "would probably take out all of the electronics on the
East Coast."
But Schriner, who has devoted his research to small-scale electronic
warfare, said the demonstration was intended as a "wake up call" to show
that even low-budget saboteurs can create viable electronic weapons.
Wal-Mart-powered weapon "We bought the car battery at Wal-Mart
yesterday," said Schriner. "It's all stuff you can buy at the hardware
store."
The HERF gun is not particularly high-tech, either. The device uses
technology dating back to Tesla, essentially pushing a 20 megawatt burst
of undisciplined radio noise through an antenna. The energy is enough
to interfere with sensitive computer components nearby, creating
unpredictable results ranging from minor anomalous behavior, to complete
burnout. Schriner said he's built larger HERF guns capable of crashing
computers and disabling automobiles at a range of 100 feet, with a cost
as low as $300.
That's going in the script Jonathan Lemkin, a screenwriter working on an
infowar script for Paramount, was particularly impressed with the
dramatic display and menacing hardware. "That's definitely going in the
movie," he said.
The computers targeted in today's demonstration worked fine after
rebooting, and Schriner said permanent damage is uncommon. "But if that
happens to be a computer in a tank, or in a piece of medical equipment,
how long does it take to reboot? . . . By that time you could be
dead."
Conference organizer and infowar author Winn Schwartau said Wednesday's
demonstration validates a threat he first tried to warn Congress about
in 1991.
"They asked if I thought they should add HERF guns to the Brady Bill,"
Schwartau recalls.
--
FC