The Tim Ferriss Show #74: How a Computer Hacker Optimizes Online Dating, Opens Locked Cars, and Hijacks Drones
Understand RF Jamming Risks
- Jamming or persistent transmitters can disrupt remote keyless entry by flooding the same frequency band.
- Attackers can hold a transmitter to block others' signals and cause denial-of-service for many cars nearby.
Public Proof Forces Security Change
- Public disclosure of a strong, reproducible exploit can force vendors to fix widespread problems.
- Samy's Evercookie made browsers unify privacy controls and changed vendor behavior quickly.
A/B Test Your Dating Profile
- Use A/B testing for dating photos and subject lines instead of guessing what works.
- Track opens and responses, iterate daily, and let data decide which photos and messages attract attention.
Samy Kamkar is one of the most innovative and notorious computer hackers in the United States. He’s also a well-known whistleblower. If you want how Samy hacks everything from online dating to car alarms, this episode is for you. He is best known for creating the fastest spreading virus of all time, a MySpace worm named “Samy.” He got raided by the United States Secret Service for that one. More recently, he’s created SkyJack, a custom drone that hacks into any nearby drones, allowing him (or any operator) to control a swarm of devices; and Evercookie, which appeared in top-secret NSA documents revealed by Edward Snowden. He also discovered illicit mobile phone tracking by Apple iPhone, Google Android and Microsoft Windows Phone mobile devices, which were transmitting GPS and Wi-Fi information to their parent companies. His research and findings led to a series of class-action lawsuits against these companies and a privacy hearing on Capitol Hill. To see Samy help me hack my online dating, check out the “Dating Game” TV episode here: http://itunes.com/timferriss Here is Samy’s site (http://samy.pl/), his outstanding YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4m2G6T18_JcjwxwtwKJijw), and his Twitter (https://twitter.com/samykamkar). This episode is brought to you by two companies I use myself: 99Designs — http://99designs.com/tim Mizzen & Main — http://mizzenandmain.com/collections/tim Enjoy!
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