183 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
183 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
×øøøøøøøøøøøøøøø÷ · · ÷øøøøøøøøøøøøøøø×
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Øø øØ
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· Bypassing Merchandise Alarms ·
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· By oozle March, 2, 2000 ·
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Øø øØ
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×øøøøøøøøøøøøøøø÷ · · ÷øøøøøøøøøøøøøøø×
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Introduction
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If you are reading this file, you most likely know about
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the merchandise alarms in stores such as Best Buy,
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Wal*Mart, Circuit City, and the like. But, incase you do not,
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here is a brief description.
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Usually, when a store wants to place an expensive item on a standard
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store shelf, such as a digital camera, telephone, and many other items,
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they want to make sure that no one walks away with these. You can tell
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if the item has a merchandise alarm attached, it will usually look like
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one of two things. 1 - a black rectangular piece of plastic with a red
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LED (light). Usually this rectangle has a phone type cord going from
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this into the merchandise alarm. or 2 - some other form of pad, with a
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wire attached, of course. The pads usually carry warnings such as
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"WARNING: this is an audio electronic alarm, and will sound when
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removed from this product." The warnings aren't all the same.
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DECOY
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-----
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Before I delve further into this file, let me talk about a VERY
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important decoy that these stores tend to use. Occasionally you
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will see a celluar phone or other product of value, with a alarm
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attached. BUT... did you ever wonder why the product still says
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"This is a demo, and does not function"? The message is usally along
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those lines, trying to make you think that these devices are phoney,
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and therefore are not worth trying to steal. While many of them ARE
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fake, many are real also, so keep an eye out for these 'Decoy' items.
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LOCATION
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--------
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So, you see the pad and the wire that belongs to the alarm. But, you
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are still wondering, 'Where is the alarm'?. The people who designed
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these alarms are not exactly rocket scientists, and neither are the
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people who install or maintain them. These alarms are very weak, and
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are not costly to make. The store will most likely have them beneath
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the shelf the item is on (usually the bottom shelf), behind the shelf,
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under the shelf in a corner, or next to a computer terminal. If you
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have access to a store such as Office Max, they will probably leave
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them on the same shelf, even next to the item. Brilliant, huh?
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The alarm's appearance is usually a small square or rectangular box,
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with LED's, a lock, phone jack style plugs, and a power supply but can
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often be run with a 9v battery instead (although not likely, just used
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as a back up).
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HOW IT WORKS
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------------
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Knowing how the alarm works is extremely important to those who wish
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to bypass it. The alarm is simple, and highly vulnerable to attack.
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Inside the casing of the alarm, there is a simple circuit. The circuit
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is a loop with an audio oscillator [sound device to those unfamiliar].
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This is how the alarm works. Each of those phone jack plugs on the
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alarm are attached to either 1) the merchandise, or 2) a serial or
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parrallel port on a computer or terminal, or 3) a RJ11 Loop (more on
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this later). When the pad with cord is
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plugged into the socket, electricity flows from the alarm, to the pad,
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and back to the alarm (hence, loop). When this loop is broken, the
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alarm responds by emitting a high tone, or silently alerting the
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computer, if one is attached. The common alarm has 6 phone jack plugs,
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and in order for it to work without going off, all of the plugs must
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be attached to the pads on the merchandise, a computer, or an
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RJ 11 LOOP. What is an RJ 11 Loop? RJ 11 is just a fancy name for that
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square plug on your telephone line, the one which you plug into the
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telephone. The RJ 11 loop is what the store will use if there are not
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enough things to plug in the alarm. If they only have 3 things they
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need to protect, they will fill the rest of the jacks with the loops,
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since the alarm needs to loop so it will not go off. Simply put, the
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RJ 11 Loop is the plug, with the 2 outer wires connected. Thats all.
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This allows flow through the alarm, and doesnt require you to use all
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of the sockets to protect merchandise. Other things to look for on the
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alarm are lids, which likely contain the backup battery, casually a
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9 volt. The lid itself can contain important information on the inside,
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such as what type of key the alarm uses to turn on & off, manufacturer,
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and other details. Remember even if you own a key for the same model
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alarm, there is a chance it will not work. This is another security
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feature implied to the device. The same model alarm can have many
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different types of keys, of which only 1 will work. Do not attempt to
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open this lid unless nessesary. The screw that holds it in place has
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a tamper alarm attached, so once open, it sounds the alarm.
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GAINING ACCESS
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--------------
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This is ultimately simple, sort of like taking candy from a dead body.
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The cost to breach this security system is approximately $2.
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You will need a butane lighter (the kind with the blue flame, that
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looks like a small torch), and some paperclips (bring about 5 with
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you). If you are nervous or paranoid about lighting things on fire,
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proceed to the next section of this article, titled BED OF NAILS.
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First, find the alarm. Count how many items it protects.
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You only need 1 paperclip per item you wish to take. Make sure the
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paperclips are not aluminum! Aluminum will not conduct electricity.
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Please note that you do not have to tamper with the RJ 11 Loops
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I described earlier, since these are not physically connected to
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the merchandise. Once you find the alarm, take one of the cords
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that go to an item. Light it with the butane lighter. Notice that
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this WILL catch on fire, but it is contained. It burns very slow,
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and there is no need to be worried about burning down the place.
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But, if you are still a bit weary of this, you may want to use
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some clay, or a creme that is not flammable.
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Put the creme on a small part of the cord (1 inch). Leave
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a half an inch of non-creamed cord, then apply another inch. So
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its like this --cream-- -no cream- --cream--. Then burn the section
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that does not have the cream. You shouldn't use this method because
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it takes too long and there is no danger in not using it, but its
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good if you are paranoid.
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Once the section of cord is on fire, allow it to burn for
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a few seconds, and melt away the plastic. Once you think its ok,
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blow out the flame. If there is still plastic on the wires, you
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will need to burn the same area again, until the metal wires are
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fully exposed. Once the wires are exposed, slide your paper clip
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over all of the exposed wires. (There will be either 2 or 4).
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Do not worry about getting electrocuted. The volatge running from
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the alarm to the pad is minimal, approximately 1 - 5 volts DC.
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Definately less than a 9 volt battery, which is safe.
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What you are doing is cutting the loop short, and basically
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disabling the pad on the protected item. Since the voltage is
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looping back into the alarm, the alarm thinks everything is ok.
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It is now safe to remove the merchandise that is attached to the
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cord. (Be sure its on the same cord you just patched! :).
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Congratulations, you have just bypassed one of corporate
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America's well trusted retail devices.
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BED OF NAILS
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------------
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Like I promised earlier, this section is for the people who are
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paranoid, or weary of fire. If you are paranoid, may I suggest
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ditching the whole project instantly, because your nerves will
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likely give you away. If you feel the need, please continue to
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read. A bed of nails is a clip, like an aligator clip, or
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roache clip to the pot heads, but more advanced, and a hell of
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a lot more expensive. Do not even try the bed of nails method
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unless its for education, or an item wich is worth more than
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the clip. Think of this method as a coupon :). The clip can be
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found at electronics stores (No, probably not Radio Shack).
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Some places you might want to look are www.digikey.com
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www.mouser.com www.newark.com and other places of high
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quality electronic parts. Once you have the clip, find the line
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that the merchandise is attached to. Put the clip on the line.
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Please note that there is a 50/50 chance this will work with
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only 1 clip. If you want a more assured method, buy two clips
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and attach them together with a piece of wire. Then place
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both on the cord. With 2 clips you have just bettered your
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chances of shorting out the pad on the item. Try to remove
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the item now from the pad. If the alarm goes off, just beat it,
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and try again with the fool proof lighter method. If it didnt go
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off, congratulations, you have just bypassed one of corporate
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Americas well trusted retail devices.
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------End-Of-File------
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There is no disclaimer, because personally, I don't give a
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flying fuck whether you rip off one of these shit chains or
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not. If you do rip them off, thank you. Maybe if enough people
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do this they can send them out of business, and allow the small
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store owners back into business, which is a rarity around my
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area these days. Please don't steal from anything that is not
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corporate or a chain store. These people generally do not
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have the funds to go about replacing stolen items, and it
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will damage them badly. Think of it as Robin Hood.
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You steal from the rich (the corporations). The stores that
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arent corporate or chains are probably not rich. Get it?
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I now leave you to ponder the possibilities.
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Be responcible and have fun this summer. Hack the world.
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------End-Of-File------
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Copyright (c) 2000, oozle productions, ltd. |