This project was commissioned by our partners State of the Art for the 85 years exhibition of Casino Estoril opening that took place on the 23rd of November 2016, and is still running until the 12th of February 2017.
The project consisted of modifying the look and extended the behaviour of a Slot Machine to display videos of the 85 years of the casino. The casino provided us with a classic slot machine for modification, so we brought it to Artica and started working on it.
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There are multiple issues associated with modifying a Slot Machine. First and foremost you have to be very careful not to break any gambling legislation rules. Each slot machine has literally 7 keys and we were only given access to the external electronics to ensure the algorithm was not tampered with. Accessing the inside would be illegal. We had a series of meetings with the casino staff to provide us with limited access to the machine.
We analyzed the slot machine and tested several connections to different outputs. Since we had no software access, everything was made reading electronic signals. Using an Arduino we were able to read values from the numeric displays and from a light on the display that would dim out whenever you activated the play. We also read from the credits LED display, to infer when a play would be successful. With this data, we could handle the “game” logic on our video player.
We installed an Intel NUC inside the slot machine running a specially adapted version of Einstein Videoplayer. The output was a monitor mounted on the top of the slot machine, replacing the fibreglass casing.
We did 3d modelling and video animations. We also spent quite some time editing video content provided by the casino.
We also redesigned and reprinted the paper rolls of the slot machine, giving them the 85 years exhibition theme.
Considering gambling legislation the machine had to clearly be labelled as not being part of the gambling circuit in the casino. The coin insertion was disabled and the machine was free to play and not giving out any prizes. It required a person to stand next to it at all times to explain the game logic and ensure people would not mistake it for the standard slot machines.
The project was pretty interesting for us. A good balance of things we already knew how to do and a few motivating challenges. The exhibition opening went pretty well, had good attendance and both the audience and our clients was impressed with the outcome.
The flaws in smart contracts and the security corner round out the news. Read on...
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Reverse-engineering a 45-year old ALU.This post from Ken Shirriff explains how the ALU worked in Intel’s first 8-bit microprocessor, the 8008. If you don’t know why that matters, “the 8008 is historically important because it essentially started the microprocessor revolution and is the ancestor of the x86 processor family that you are probably using right now.”
Understanding htop. htop is a powerful process monitor that reveals much more data about a machine’s performance than regular top. Here’s a great overview that explains what all the fields, graphs, and related stuff means.
“Smart Contracts” are neither?This post from Ed Felten’s Freedom to Tinker explains how smart contracts, as used in some blockchain-based systems, aren’t really smart and aren’t really contracts.
Slot Machine Hacks 2017 Free
Have $55? This tool will destroy many devices just by plugging it in. The “USB Killer” device does what it says on the tin, permanently damaging the USB port or entire device in many pieces of hardware. It does this by sucking power from the device, storing it in a series of onboard capacitors, then barfing a giant voltage spike across the USB/Lightning port of the target device, causing it to have a bad day. Maybe Apple’s courage in removing ports was just a brilliant bit of foresight.
A hole in the cloud. Another great 33C3 talk was this series of talks discussing how memory deduplication in virtual machines can be exploited. The three methods (CAIN, CAIN+Rowhammer, and Flip Feng Shui) combine to enable things like SSH login, browser exploits, and a compromise of the software update process.
Cheating a slot machine through the power of random numbers. Using a cell phone app to exploit the PRNG in a slot machine lead to huge casino losses. Read more in this piece from Wired. How much can you exploit the machines for? Try “upwards of $250,000 in a single week.”
The people responsible for sending the missile warning have been sacked. An alerting system test at Spangadhlem Air Base in Germany probably lead to much freaking-out, as a message was sent telling airmen that a missile was inbound to the base and to seek shelter immediately. Eight minutes later, the all clear was sent.
“Web Bluetooth” - two words I never wanted to see together. Chrome version 56 has added support for the Web Bluetooth API, opening up your Bluetooth devices to fun and exciting exploits from the Internet… I mean, opening up your Bluetooth devices to interact with websites for things like data exchange or software updates. Ostensibly, you must affirmatively opt-in before any data about your Bluetooth devices is shared with the website, but we’ll see how well that actually is implemented.
Slot Machine Hack 2019
In the security corner: websites continue to find ways to fingerprint users, that doll might be a spy, and new Mac malware comes from Russia, with love:
- In news I’m certain surprised absolutely nobody, researchers have developed a technique to track users even if they use multiple browsers. As you might guess if you’re familiar with fingerprinting techniques, it relies primarily on WebGL tasks, most of which execute in very similar ways across browsers. According to the researchers, they are able to successfully fingerprint over 99% of users.
- The “My Friend Cayla” doll was classified by the German government as an illegal espionage apparatus, because it contains a microphone and is disguised as another object. The Germans, for some reason, are very wary of anything that could conceivably be used for surveillance. Access to the doll is, of course, not very secure, contributing to the problem.
- Xagent malware for the Mac has been blamed on APT28, the same Russian hacking group allegedly responsible for the DNC leaks in the 2016 election. Xagent has many capabilities and uses domains that look like Apple domains to hide their C&C services. Of course, attributing malware to any group is more art than science, but this is still noteworthy because of how strong this malware is.
As a programming note, we won’t produce a rundown next week. Look for the next one on Monday, March 6. Further, we’re continuing to experiment with the best way to deliver this content. Look for video features to join this rundown soon. If you have feedback, or think there’s something I should cover next time, leave a comment!
Cover photo: A slot machine interface. Note: the machine pictured is not made by the manufacturer of the machines that were exploited in the slot machine story. It's just a flashy pic of a slot machine. Credit: Bloomberg / Getty