Back in Black (back from Black Hat with a bag full of schwag and branded black shirts). 

Black Hat and DEF CON again allowed insights into latest research and concerns. Where some topics loose grip ( vulnerability scanning, IPv4, DNS, general web issues) others gain momentum (DDoS, mobile computing, smart energy, industrial control and embedded systems). Myself was speaking on the advanced metering infrastructure and specifically on the security of the wireless M-Bus protocol. Slide deck and whitepaper are available for download from the Compass Security news page[1].

At that time, I would like to let you know about a little invention that makes reversing of embedded systems and industrial control devices partially easier. JTAGulator [2]. A device designed by Joe Grand, aka Kingpin and former DEF CON badge designer, with the sole purpose of identifying JTAG PINs and UART serial lines on printed circuit boards (PCB). There is no need to unomunt or desolder devices. JTAGulator can be configured to run on a range of voltages (1.2-3.3V) and features 24 I/Os that are arbitrarily connected to the board in order to identify the relevant pins. Note, that testing for the valid pinout might cause your little device behave strangely while JTAGulator tries to pull lines up and down. Thus, make sure you stay in safe distance :)

Now, you wonder !!!@#$ JTAG!!!…understandably. Joint Test Action Group[3], is the name for a standardized hardware interface (IEEE 1149.1) that allows to test and debug integrated circuits. Most embedded devices (cell phones, wireless routers, …) nowadays implement the interface. Having enough information of the target device, the chip and its peripherals could be initialized and accessed using the JTAG interface. Specifically, the interface could allow access to flash memory contents. Thus, the technology comes in handy to acquire cell phone data on a low level or to extract the firmware of embedded devices.

JTAG interfaces are small boxes that interface between the embedded hardware and a common computer. For example, the Swiss based company Amontec[4] provides a high-speed general purpose interface at low cost (120 Euros). The box and its drivers are compatible with the OpenOCD software[5] an on-chip debugger that allows for programming and debugging of embedded devices using some specific command set and the GNU debugger[6]. The Android community[7] has adopted the approach for debug purposes of the Android kernel [8].

With that, I leave you for the moment and I promise we get back to you soon with more summaries on topics of interest.

References
[1] Slides and Whitepaper wireless M-Bus Security, http://www.csnc.ch/en/modules/news/news_0088.html
[2] JTAGulater, http://www.grandideastudio.com/portfolio/jtagulator/
[3] JTAG, http://standards.ieee.org/findstds/standard/1149.1-1990.html
[4] Amontec, http://www.amontec.com/
[5] OpenOCD, http://openocd.sourceforge.net/
[6] GNU Debugger, http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/
[7] Android Kernel, http://source.android.com/source/building-kernels.html
[8] Video Android Kernel Debugging, http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JzMj_iU4vx