Raspberry Pi for Secret Agents - Third Edition

By Matthew Poole

About This Book

• Turn your Raspberry Pi into a multi-purpose secret agent gadget for audio and video surveillance, Wi-Fi exploration, or playing pranks on your friends
• Detect an intruder on camera or with sensors and set off an alarm or receive messages to your phone
• Find out what the other computers on your network are up to and make yourself anonymous on the Internet
• This book has been updated for new additions to your toolkit featuring the tiny, recently released Raspberry Pi Zero board

Who This Book Is For

This book targets people who are new to the Raspberry Pi Zero or Raspberry Pi 2, have some experience with the original Raspberry Pi models, and even budding secret agents who would like to use the Raspberry Pi Zero as a secret agent toolbox. No programming experience is assumed. Suitable for the novice and expert alike, each topic provides a fast and easy way to get started with exciting applications, with practical examples in every chapter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Release date: Jul 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781786461667

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole (1624-79), author of the famous Synopsis Criticorum Biblicum, was a seventeenth century ecclesiastical leader, nonconformist, apologist and minister in England. Poole is best remembered for his Synopsis in the scholarly Latin tongue, and his English language Annotations upon the Holy Bible.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Raspberry Pi for Secret Agents - Third Edition

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewer

www.PacktPub.com

Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book 

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Getting up to No Good

A brief history lesson on the Pi

Raspberry Pi Model A

Raspberry Pi Model B

Raspberry Pi Model B+

Raspberry Pi Model 2

Raspberry Pi Zero

Raspberry Pi 3

So, which Pi for us spies?

Where to buy a Pi

The ins and outs of the Raspberry Pi

GPIO headers

Audio/Video jack

Status LEDs

USB

Ethernet port

CSI camera connector

Display Serial Interface

HDMI

Power

MicroSD card

Preparing the SD card

Download the Raspbian image

Using Microsoft Windows

Using Linux

Boot up your Pi

Expand the filesystem

Goodbye GUI

Using the raspi-config utility

Setting up your Pi

The importance of a sneaky headless setup

Keeping your system up to date

Backing up your SD card

Complete SD card backup in Windows

Complete SD card backup in MAC OS X

Complete SD card backup in Linux

Summary

2. Audio Antics

Configuring your audio gadgets

Sound variations

Introducing the ALSA sound system

Controlling the volume

Switching between HDMI and analog audio output

Testing the speakers

Preparing to record

Testing the microphone

Clipping, feedback distortion, and improving sound quality

Recording conversations for later retrieval

Writing to a WAV file

Writing to an MP3 or OGG file

Creating command shortcuts with aliases

Keep your recordings running safely with tmux

Making a covert wearable recorder with Pi Zero

Listening in on conversations from a distance

Listening in Windows

Listening in Mac OS X or Linux

Listening in over Bluetooth

Introducing Bluetooth audio

Setting up Bluetooth on the Pi

Installing PulseAudio

Connect to your Bluetooth headset or speaker

Bluetooth by default

Talking to people from a distance

Talking in Windows

Talking in Mac OS X or Linux

Attention Mac users

Talking in Bluetooth

Distorting your voice in weird and wonderful ways

Make your computer do the talking

Scheduling your audio actions

Start on power up

Scheduled start

Controlling recording length

Start recording with noise detection

Calling your fellow agents

Setting up SIP Witch

Connecting the softphones

Windows (MicroSIP)

Configuring the MicroSIP softphone for Windows

Mac OS X (Telephone)

Linux (Ring)

Android (CSipSimple)

iPhone/iPad (Linphone)

Running a softphone on the Pi

Encrypting SIP Witch passwords

Setting up Linphone

Playing files with Linphone

Using your voice to control things

Give your Pi some ears

Bonus one-line sampler

Summary

3. Webcam and Video Wizardry

Meet the USB Video Class drivers and Video4Linux

Raspberry Pi Camera Module

Connecting the camera module

Setting up the camera module

Using USB cameras

Connecting the webcam

Finding out your webcam's capabilities

Capturing your target on film

Viewing your camera in VLC media player

Viewing in Windows

Viewing in Mac OS X

Viewing in Linux

Recording the video stream

Recording in Windows

Recording in Mac OS X

Recording in Linux

Detecting an intruder and setting off an alarm

Creating a motion detection configuration

Trying out Motion

Collecting the evidence

Viewing and e-mailing the evidence

Hooking up more cameras

Preparing a webcam stream in Windows

Preparing a webcam stream in Mac OS X

Configuring MotionEye for multiple input streams

Watching your camera over the Internet

The link between the Pi and the broadcasting service

Night vision

Make a covert wearable recorder with Pi Zero

Turning your TV on or off using the Pi

Scheduling a playback scare

Summary

4. Wi-Fi Pranks – Exploring Your Network

Getting an overview of all the computers on your network

Monitoring Wi-Fi airspace with Kismet

Preparing Kismet for launch

First Kismet session

Adding sound and speech

Enabling rogue access point detection

Mapping out your network with Nmap

Finding out what the other computers are up to

How encryption changes the game

Traffic logging

Shoulder surfing in Elinks

Pushing unexpected images to browser windows

Knocking all visitors off your network

Protecting your network against Ettercap

Analyzing packet dumps with Wireshark

Running Wireshark in Windows

Running Wireshark in Mac OS X

Running Wireshark in Linux

Exploring dynamic DNS, port forwarding, and tunneling

Dynamic DNS

Choosing your domain name

Verifying your domain name

Updating your domain name

Port forwarding

Adding the forwarding rule

Verifying your port forwarding

Port forwarding security

Connected at last

Tunneling

Port tunneling in Windows

Port tunneling in Linux or Mac OS X

Creating a diversion using a chat bot

Introducing XMPP

Useful Profanity

Connecting to Google chat

Connecting to XMPP servers

Getting around Profanity

Project AgentBot

Awakening the bot

Keeping your conversations secret with encryption

Summary

5. Taking Your Pi Off-Road

Keeping the Pi dry and running with housing and batteries

Setting up point-to-point networking

Creating a direct wired connection

Static IP assignment in Windows

Static IP assignment in Mac OS X

Static IP assignment in Linux

Turning the Pi into a Wi-Fi hotspot

Connecting the Pi to the mobile Internet

Multiple personalities

Switching modes

Automatic mode-switching

Be anonymous on the Internet

Know your onions

Setting up the Wi-Fi access point

Installing and setting up a DHCP server

Set up the routing tables

Installing and setting up Tor

Test your anonymity

Tracking the Pi's whereabouts using GPS

Tracking the GPS position on Google Earth

Preparing a GPS beacon on the Pi

Setting up Google Earth

Setting up a GPS waypoint logger

Mapping GPS data from Kismet

Using GPS as a time source

Setting up GPS on boot

Controlling the Pi with your smartphone

Android (Raspi SSH)

iPhone/iPad (SSH Remote)

Common remote control commands

Receiving status updates from the Pi

Tagging tweets with GPS coordinates

Sending e-mail updates

Installing and setting  up the SMTP client

Sending attachments

Scheduling regular updates

Accessing your files from anywhere with Dropbox

Keeping your data secret with encryption

Erasing the Pi should it fall into the wrong hands

Encrypting your home with eCryptfs

Rigging the self-destruct mechanism

Jam the airwaves with a Pi Zero

Installing PiFm

Broadcasting to the airwaves

Summary

6. Detecting and Protecting Against Your Enemies

Say hello to the GPIO

Power connections

Building a laser trip wire

How it works

Wiring it up

Writing the detection script

Protecting an entire area

Wiring it up

Implementing the detection script

Sending alerts to your phone using SMS

SMS gateway

Sending messages through the API

Use your phone as an access control device

Probe Requests

Scanning with tshark

Displaying secret codes and messages

Enabling the serial port

Connecting the Pi-Lite

Encoding our messages

Writing the encoder script

Sending our text to the display

Better security with a true random number generator

Kernel entropy pool

Setting up our hardware RNG

Enabling the hardware RNG in Raspbian Wheezy

Enabling the hardware RNG in Raspbian Jessie

Testing the hardware RNG

Using the HWRNG for our entropy pool

Exporting the HWRNG data to another Linux server

Connecting the UART pins

Transferring entropy to the serial port

Receiving entropy on the server

Summary

Graduation

Raspberry Pi for Secret Agents - Third Edition

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Raspberry Pi for Secret Agents - Third Edition

Copyright © 2016 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author(s), nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: April 2013

Second edition: January 2015

Third edition: July 2016

Production reference: 1210716

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

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Birmingham 

B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78646-354-8

www.PacktPub.com

Cover image by Connecting Objects (connectingobjects.com)

Credits

About the Author

Matthew Poole is a systems engineer based near Southampton on the south coast of England, with over 20 years of industry experience. After graduating in electronics and communications engineering, he went on to train as and become an air traffic engineer for Civil Aviation Authority, UK, working on microprocessor-based control and communications systems.

Later, he became a software architect and mobile technology specialist, working for several consultancies and global organizations in both hands-on architecture and product-management roles .

He is now a partner at Connecting Objects, a boutique systems consultancy focusing on the design of Bluetooth and other wireless-based IoT systems, taking ideas from concept to prototype. He is also the Director of Technology for Mobile Onboard, a leading UK-based transport technology company specializing in bus connectivity and mobile ticketing systems.

He is also the author of Building a Home Security System with Raspberry Pi, Packt Publishing.

You can find his blog at http://cubiksoundz.com and LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/cubik, or you can reach him on Twitter at @cubiksoundz.

About the Reviewer

Jon Witts has been working within the IT industry since 2002 and specifically within educational IT since 2004. He was introduced to Linux back in 2001 through his collaboration with two German artists who were visiting the arts organization he was then working with. Having studied Fine Arts and Educational Technology, and having sought to innovate with open and accessible digital technologies within his creative practice, Jon is happiest when deconstructing technology and finding its limits.

Jon has embedded within his school the use of Raspberry Pi computers, as an integral part of the delivery of the school’s Computer Science curriculum, as well as to run various school clubs and projects. Jon is a Raspberry Pi Certified Educator and also helps to organize and run the Hull Raspberry Jam events.

I would like to thank my wife, Sally, and our three daughters for putting up with all the cables and components around the house, not least for being so tolerant of the need to dodge the robots racing round the kitchen floor!

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Preface

The Raspberry Pi was developed with the intention of promoting basic computer science in schools, but the Pi also represents a welcome return to simple, fun, and open computing.

Using gadgets for purposes other than the intended ones, especially for mischief and pranks, has always been an important part of adopting a new technology and making it your own.

With a  £25 Raspberry Pi computer and a few common USB gadgets, anyone can afford to become a secret agent.

This third edition by Matthew Poole takes the previous edition's projects and brings them up to date to now support the new Raspberry Pi Zero, Raspberry Pi Version 3, and the Raspbian Jessie operating system.

There is also a new chapter that looks at ways to connect sensors and gadgets to our Pi to protect ourselves against other would-be secret agents.

What this book covers

Chapter 1,Getting Up to No Good, looks at all of the different models of the Raspberry Pi available, and then takes you through the initial setup, preparing it for sneaky headless operations over the network.

Chapter 2,Audio Antics, teaches you how to eavesdrop on conversations with a Pi Zero-based wearable voice recorder, or play pranks on friends by broadcasting your own distorted voice from a distance using the Bluetooth audio.

Chapter 3, Webcam and Video Wizardry, shows you how to set up a webcam video feed with built-in motion detection that can be used to detect intruders, or to stage a playback scare by automatically switching on a TV.

Chapter 4, Wi-Fi Pranks – Exploring Your Network, teaches you how to capture, manipulate, and spy on the traffic that flows through your network.

Chapter 5, Taking Your Pi Off-Road, shows you how to encrypt your Pi and send it away on missions while keeping in touch with it via smartphone, GPS, and Twitter updates. You'll also learn how to turn your Pi into a cellular 4G-connected router while staying anonymous on the Internet.

Chapter 6, Detecting and Protecting Against Your Enemies, looks at ways to detect infiltrations and protect ourselves against other would-be spies, by plugging sensors and other gadgets into our Raspberry Pi, alerting us when people stray into our territories.

What you need for this book

The following hardware is recommended for maximum enjoyment:

The Raspberry Pi computer (Version 2/Version 3, and Pi Zero)

An SD card (4 GB minimum, class 10 recommended)

A PC/laptop running Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X with an internal or external SD card reader

A Pi Zero connector kit

A USB microphone / sound card (projects verified with Formosa AS301 Tube Delight and pluggable USB audio adapter.

A USB Bluetooth adapter (projects verified with Cambridge Silicon Radio dongles) or Pi 3 onboard Bluetooth

A Bluetooth headset and/or speaker

Official Raspberry Pi Camera module

A camera module or USB webcam (projects verified with Logitech C270)

A USB Wi-Fi adapter (projects verified with Farnell element14 Wi-Pi dongle)

A USB 3G/4G modem (projects verified with Huawei E3372 HiLink modem)

A USB GPS receiver (projects verified with U-blox7)

A lithium polymer battery pack (projects verified with RS Components USB Power Banks and iMuto X4)

Waveshare Laser Sensor module

LED matrix display (project verified with the Ciesco Pi-Lite board)

Passive IR motion sensor (projects verified with Parallax 555-28027)

USB to 3.3V TTL serial/UART converter

An Android phone or iPhone (projects verified with Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and iPhone 4S)

All software mentioned in this book is free of charge and can be downloaded from the Internet.

Who this book is for

This book is for all the mischievous Raspberry Pi owners who would like to see their computer transformed into a neat spy gadget to be used in a series of practical pranks and projects. No previous skills are required to follow the book, and if you're completely new to Linux, you'll pick up most of the basics along the way.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: The cat command is commonly used to output the contents of text files, and /proc/asound is a directory.

A block of code is set as follows:

#!/bin/bash

sudo echo 17 > /sys/class/gpio/export

sudo echo in > /sys/class/gpio/gpio17/direction

# loop forever

while true

do

  # read the beam state

  BEAM=$(sudo cat /sys/class/gpio/gpio17/value)

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ cat /proc/asound/cards

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: Just right-click on the image file and select Send to, then click on Compressed (zipped) folder.

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

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Errata

Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you find a mistake in one of our books-maybe a mistake in the text or the code-we would be grateful if you could report this to us. By doing so, you can save other readers from frustration and help us improve subsequent versions of this book.