As part of the Hack In The Box security conference in Dubai 2018 DarkMatter Xen1thLabs is presenting a new tool for teaching RFID security. Stundents can print out an RFID sniffer circuit on thick paper (180g or more) with a common printer - and then use adhesive coper tape and a few simple electronic parts to complete the functioning circuit for sniffing and reverse engineering RFID-tag/reader communications.
To avoid purchasing of expensive tools like oscilloscopes, the circuit output is compatible with a microphone input as available on many desktop PCBs or sub-$5 USB sound cards - but any (USB) sound card should do.
All parts are through-hole (wired) for simple soldering. Please ensure to cover all green areas on a printed paper with uninterrupted copper tape. Sticky tape is used to hold the reader coil in place, to act as a strain-relief for the sound card connector and as an isolation between diodes and the coil.
- Thick A4 sized paper (ideally 180g or thicker)
- R1: 10kΩ resistor
- 4-ring resistors: Brown-Black-Orange-X
- 5-ring resistors: Brown-Black-Black-Red-X
- C1, C2: 1nF ceramic capacitor
- This capacitor has the number 102 printed on it (indicating 1000pF which equals 1nF).
- D1, D2, D3, D4: Small-signal Schottky diodes (BAT43 or BAT86 - any small-signal Schottky diode should do).
- L1: Reader antenna coil 1.62uH (provided in the workshop, stay tuned for howto-build tutorial)
- 10mm wide adhesive copper tape
- 24mm wide clear sticky tape
You can download and print the layout below: