Cyber-Baddie and the Golden Mask / Episode 3 / Recon

Cyber-Baddie and the golden mask episode 3

In part 3, Cyber-baddie takes us on a reconnaissance mission to the museum. It is here that he first stands before the golden mask.

Although Cyber-baddie is a fully fledged cyber-criminal, his toolkit for this mission is made up of what any tourist might carry — just an iPhone and a Nikon camera.

Actually it’s not just a Nikon camera. It is the Nikon P900. Famous for it’s superzoom and in a regular camera casing at an affordable price. The lens is powerful enough to see the moon moving while standing on earth. This enables a casual photographer to rival a paparazzi’s telephoto lens.

Photography and reconnaissance have a long and interesting history that I will avoid discussing. However, readers might recall that in 2014, Starbug from the German Chaos Computer Club photographed a high resolution fingerprint of the German defence minister, to raise awareness about the risks of biometric security. This is interesting but not something that Cyber-baddie is planning to use in the upcoming episodes.

This episode features security aspects of keys, velvet ropes, motion detectors, alarm keypads, and Wi-Fi networks. These areas are introduced but not yet explored in any depth.

The alarm panel is branded with Sweetwell, a fictional brand that makes inferior copies of Honeywell products. The alarm keypad is missing a protective coating of the silicon rubber keypad, that over time leads to the appearance of a “wear pattern”. This coating is referred to by the alarm industry as abrasion resistance.

Astute readers with suspiciously cunning minds may be able to guess how Cyber-baddie will exploit the knowledge gained from these photos in the next instalment.