DefCon is going crazy again, and this time, two researchers, which go by the names, Joe FitzPatrick and Matt King have demonstrated how their standalone JTAG attack device works.
They have named the JTAG attack device “SOLDERPEEK” and they claim that it is one of the NSA toys which you can find in their playset.
Wikipedia on JTAG:
The Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) is an electronics industry association formed in 1985 for developing a method of verifying designs and testing printed circuit boards after manufacture. In 1990 the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers codified the results of the effort in IEEE Standard 1149.1-1990, entitled Standard Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture.
You can follow Joe on Twitter via @securelyfitz and you can follow Matt via @syncsrc