Firmware Hacking
Sometimes third parties create an unofficial new or modified ("aftermarket") version of firmware to provide new features or to unlock hidden functionality. Examples include:
- Rockbox for digital audio players.
- CHDK and Magic Lantern for Canon digital cameras.
- Nikon Hacker project for Nikon EXPEED DSLRs.
- Many third-party firmware projects for wireless routers, including:
- OpenWrt for wireless routers.
- RouterTech – for ADSL modem/routers based on the Texas Instruments AR7 chipset (with the Pspboot or Adam2 bootloader).
- List of wireless router firmware projects
- Firmware that allows DVD drives to be region-free.
- SamyGO, modified firmware for Samsung televisions.
- Many homebrew projects for gaming consoles. These often unlock general-purpose computing functionality in previously limited devices (e.g., running Doom on iPods).
Most firmware hacks are free and open source software as well.
These hacks usually take advantage of the firmware update facility on many devices to install or run themselves. Some, however, must resort to exploits in order to run, because the manufacturer has attempted to lock the hardware to stop it from running unlicensed code.
Newer custom firmware hacks have also focused on injecting malware in devices such as smartphones. One such injection was demonstrated on the Symbian OS at MalCon, a hacker convention.
Read more about this topic: Firmware
Famous quotes containing the word hacking:
“Experimental work provides the strongest evidence for scientific realism. This is not because we test hypotheses about entities. It is because entities that in principle cannot be ‘observed’ are manipulated to produce a new phenomena
[sic] and to investigate other aspects of nature.”
—Ian Hacking (b. 1936)