Tune in if you want, 6:30 again, as we cope with the ongoing pandemic and try to make sense of the weird ways people are responding to this crisis…
BSidesLV Cancelled
So I’m sure you’ve seen the alert that BSides Las Vegas is cancelled this year, you know, due to that thing that’s going around.
I have zero inside information, but I can’t imagine a scenario where this doesn’t play into the decision process for DEFCON and BlackHat, since it’s the same location during the same week. While I haven’t cancelled my hotel booking yet, it’s looking more and more likely.
I’m sad about this.
DC540 Monthly Meetup – April 2020
Our monthly meetup. Tell your friends. Bring something cool to demo. Pants optional.
Mood…
DC540 Monday Night Check-In
Our weekly check-in, just to find out of Emery watched the last season of Mr. Robot yet.
I’ll have to leave at 7:30 to attend another virtual meeting, but if there’s momentum I’ll leave it up with someone else hosting.
Monday night check-in event announced…
See website for details.
Monday Night Check-In
We’re doing it again tonight. I’ll be talking a class I took. Talk about what you’ve been up to and what’s keeping you busy during the quarantine.
https://zoom.us/j/819063060?pwd=b0wwUWtpRENkMGFiNUJQQW5pdVVJZz09
Monday Night Checkup Meeting
Join in on the Zoom this evening. Check up with everyone, tell some of your crazy social distancing toilet paper stories, whatever comes to mind. 7PM.
https://zoom.us/j/819063060?pwd=b0wwUWtpRENkMGFiNUJQQW5pdVVJZz09
March Meeting Cancelled
It’s not even an abundance of caution. After reading the latest from WHO and CDC, it’s just common sense. Stay safe, y’all. We’ll get together when thing settles down.
Fun with Payphones, part 1
So I scored an old payphone. My “vintage replica” just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
It appears to be a Western Electric single-slot 1C from May of 1977.
Decent cosmetic condition, but looks aren’t the reason I bought it. I bought it to learn, play, restore, and maybe even modify it.
It didn’t come with keys — this is problem #1.
There’s a reason these things stayed in service so long, and it’s not just because cellphones were invented and eventually became ubiquitous and disposable. It’s also because they were seriously armored and indestructable. Picking these locks when they’re in good shape is no joke. In fact, I found the restricted Bell document that shows what to do when you no longer have the key to the vault door (the shiny square door at the bottom) — basically you use a circle template and drill through the door so that you have direct access to the latch bolts internally. Then you replace the door and the lock assembly with one which has keys.
The problem is, step one in that process is “remove the cover assembly.” Which is also locked. So what if I ALSO don’t have keys to the cover assembly? Well, I guess I could maybe drill that lock out — BUT I found another tutorial that indicates that with 8-15 minutes of tapping with a dowel and hammer, you basically nudge the four screws securing that lock assembly out from the inside.
It looks like that would have to happen anyway, because these locks looks like shit, and might not be pickable even by a TOOOL expert on a good day.
Fortunately, replacement vault doors, coin vaults and lock assemblies with keys are available on eBay, so eventually this project may find itself nudged further along. I’ll update you.