Welcome back, my aspiring SDR hackers!
In the previous tutorials in this series, we used the inexpensive but capable RTL-SDR for our radio hacking adventures. Although the RTL-SDR is very capable of receiving a wide variety of radio signals, it is not capable of sending radio signals. In addition, the frequency range of the RTL-SDR is limited (see my tutorial on SDR hardware comparison here).
In the next few tutorials, we will be using the HackRF One transceiver. The HackRF One is capable of both sending and receiving radio signals. Its biggest limitation–compared to the much more expensive hardware– is that its is only half-duplex meaning it can only send or receive and not both simultaneously. Despite this limitation, it is great for a lot of great hacks such as replay attacks where we capture a transmission and then resend it.
Step #1: Connect Your HackRF One
In this first step, you will need to connect your HackRF to a USB port. Then download the HackRF utilities from the Kali repository.
kali > sudo apt install hackrf
Now, with these utilities installed, let’s check on the version of our HackRF One.
kali > sudo hackrf_info
Step #2: Update the firmware
Download and extract the new firmware from Ossmann’s repository to your Kali system. It will create a directory named appropriately enough, hackrf-2021.03.1. Navigate to that directory and you will see a file named firmware-bin. Change (cd) to that directory.
Now we need to update the firmware. To update the firmware, enter the following command;
kali > hackrf_spiflash -w hackrf_one_usb.bin
Now, when we ask the HackRF One device for details using the hackrf_info command, we can see that it has been updated to the most current firmware.
Step #3: Preparing the HackRF One for Windows
We will be using Linux for the HackRF hacks in future tutorials (HackRF doesn’t transmit in Windows), but if you want to use your HackRF in Windows, here’s how to do it.
First, plug your HackRF One into the USB port. Now, open Zadig and look for the HackRF One under devices. Select HackRF One.
Summary
The HackRF One is a powerful and inexpensive radio transceiver excellent for both sending and receiving radio signals in the 1Mhz to 6 GHZ frequency range. Although it is only half-duplex and USB2.0, it is adequate for many of the hacks we will be doing, such as replay attacks where we capture a signal and replay it. In these circumstances, high performance is not required.
Look for more SDR for Hackers tutorials such as signal jamming, GPS spoofing, remote replay attacks and more.