Hack Nintendo's alarm clock to show cat pics? Let's-a-go! A hacker who uses the handle GaryOderNichts has found a way to break into Nintendo's recently launched Alarmo clock, and run code on the device. Nintendo bills Alarmo as a way to "make waking up fun" – a tall order. The clock looks like a cartoony take on a vintage, red round alarm clock, but with an interactive screen. …
That's only half the story though isn't it. The people they are suing are using ROMS. ROMS are copies of games and there is no way to determine if it's a legit own backup. I looked it up and the first website I found on the matter talked about "cartridge degradation" as the reason why it's bad. Cartridge degradation? Is that even as thing? I have cartridges that still work that are not much older than me and they also fail to mention downloaded content.
Nintendo are very gung ho on their IP though to be fair. I certainly wouldn't put them anywhere near or let alone a level above Sony (DRM) and Google (Where do I even start?
I wrote some software for the Commodore 64 back in the 1980s for a little local company and decided to attempt to protect the disk version from being copied. I remember putting a deliberately corrupt sector on the disk which the loader could check for. If it wasn't found to be corrupted, the loader would then bail out of running the software there and then (probably with a disk read error message). The rest of the protection was (if I remember correctly) by EX-ORing the stream with string sequences one of which was a message that read something like: "THE ENCRYPTION IS 55 LEVELS DEEP" just to put the hackers off. Of course, it wasn't 55 levels deep - if it had been, there probably wouldn't have been room on the disk for the program itself! Fun times!
Is bypassing the encryption even necessary? Given that this device uses a STM32H730ZBI6 microcontroller, couldn't arbitrary firmware just be flashed over the top without worrying about protection?
I'd love to get binwalk going over the firmware image, but there doesn't appear to be a direct download for it anywhere.
Sure, but if you flash your own firmware to it (likely possible via Arduino IDE) who cares about the encrypted enclave? The encrypted area is likely where additional binaries exist for poking and prodding the chips to get them to do stuff...it's likely a lot less important than the encryption would imply and likely exists to prevent Chinese factories copying the device...not that it would stop them anyway.
For $100, you're already in the ballpark of building a device of your own choosing. And if you just want a cat clock, you can order mechanical clocks with custom artwork for a very small amount of money.
This one definitely sounds like a desperate attempt to justify an impulse purchase that ended in buyer's remorse.
The shame.
When I need a cute cat picture, I get as far as opening the front door when a turbo charged cat flies through the air towards me (she's an outdoor cat, far too hyper to be trusted inside - what she did to the ethernet cables was...difficult to imagine possible).
Simple answer ... buy some armoured cable suitable for outdoor use.
That WILL be cat proof but the retribution for defeating your cat may be worse !!!
[And there WILL be retribution ... its a cat 'thing' for challenging the hierarchy ... AKA 'know your place, person who feeds me']
:)
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