Signal Jamming Toy Tank: Frypower

Julian Oliver’s toy tank is a destructive weapon. You can’t even see its ammo, and it hits everything around it. That’s because it has a signal jammer that can block mobile phone signals within a 20 to 50 ft. radius. No wonder Julian calls it No Network.

no network cell signal jamming tank by julian oliver

No Network blocks signals sent via widely used standards, including CDMA, GSM and 3G. Based on the images on Julian’s website, I think No Network is based on Tamiya’s 1:35 scale model of the Mk 5 Chieftain. He didn’t say where he got the signal jammer, but it’s easy to find gadgets like that these days.

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The tank is the second in Julian’s series of functional art that represent cyber warfare and cyber weapons. The first piece he made is the Transparency Grenade, which snoops around and sends the data it gathers to a remote server. Julian said he’ll make two more tanks: one that blocks GPS signals and another that blocks Wi-Fi signals. He should make a drone that shoots EMPs. Or sprays water. No Network? How about No Electronics?

[via Julian Oliver via DudeIWantThat]

LTE: fast, global, silenced by a $650 radio jammer

LTE fast, global, silenced by a $650 radio jammer

Oh gosh, we haven’t been so panicked since our phones were hypothetically possessed by demons. And come to think of it, this is theoretically far, far worse. A research group at Virginia Tech is claiming that, due to the particular way 4G data is transmitted, an LTE base station can be sabotaged using lightweight equipment that costs as little as $650. Such a thing is possible because, unlike 2G and 3G, LTE depends on control instructions that occupy only a tiny fraction of the total signal — and details of those specific frequencies have been openly published.

According to the research group’s director, Jeff Reed, a single malicious operative with a hot briefcase and a bit of know-how could take down “miles of LTE signals.” If the attacker splashed out on an amplifier, they could cut off reception for thousands of people across a whole city or region. Reed stresses that there are no known instances of this happening yet, but also warns that he can see no “mitigation strategies” that can “cover it all.” Let us pray that humanity’s characteristic inability to agree on anything — including a universal LTE standard — will be our salvation.

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LTE: fast, global, silenced by a $650 radio jammer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Nov 2012 07:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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