What is flipper zero

Flipper zero, The $200 device is called Flipper Zero, and it’s a portable pen-testing tool designed for hackers of all levels of technical expertise.

The tool is smaller than a phone, easily concealable, and is stuffed with a range of radios and sensors that allow you to intercept and replay signals from keyless entry systems, Internet of Things sensors, garage doors, NFC cards, and virtually any other device that communicates wirelessly in short ranges.

For example, in just seconds, I used the Flipper Zero to seamlessly clone the signal of an RFID-enable card tucked safely inside my wallet.

What to expect

If you had only heard about  through TikTok, where the tool has gone viral, you might think that it was a toy that could make ATMs spit out money, cars unlock themselves, and gas spill out of pumps for free.

I spent the last week testing one to determine whether the world was as vulnerable to the device as social media made it out to be.

What I found was mixed: Many of the most dramatic videos posted to TikTok are likely staged—most modern wireless devices are not susceptible to simple replay attacks—but the device is still undeniably powerful, giving aspiring hackers and seasoned pen-testers a convenient new tool to probe the security of the world’s most ubiquitous wireless devices.

how it works

people liken Flipper Zero to a Swiss Army knife for physical penetration testing. But in my week testing Flipper Zero, it felt more like a blacklight—something I could literally hold up to a device that would reveal information, invisible to the human eye, about how it worked, what data it was emitting, and how often it was doing so.

Here’s a brief list of some things I’ve learned with the help of Flipper Zero this week: Some animal microchips will tell you the body temperature of your pet. My neighbor’s car tire pressure sensor leaks data to anyone in range of the signal. My iPhone blasts my face with infrared signals every few seconds. My home security system has built-in signal-jamming detection. Some hotel and office bathrooms have soap dispensers that broadcast whether they need to be refilled.