Pinball Zero reading a debit card. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
For a project that was crowdfunded over the summer of 2020, the Pinball Zero has gained momentum. According to TechCrunch, the company expects to sell $80 million worth of units this year. This represents nearly 500,000 units.
Have you ever heard of Pinball Zero? Where have you been ?
It’s a $169 multifunction device that can interact with digital interfaces in the physical world. It can emulate RFID and NFC cards, analyze radio protocols, imitate remote controls and much more. It’s a sort of “digital Swiss army knife” for cybersecurity enthusiasts, DIY enthusiasts, and anyone who wants to explore the digital side of their environment.
A child’s toy, all plastic and brightly colored
But instead of looking like a creepy, all-black hacking tool bristling with antennae, it looks like a child’s toy, all-plastic and brightly colored. He reminds me of those Tamagoshi who die or turn evil if neglected.
The success of Pinball Zero is due to several things.
- The price is right considering its capabilities (people were willing to pay very high prices when stocks were low)
- It’s incredibly user friendly, you can attach expansion cards to it to give it Wi-Fi capability
- There is a very active community of users who are constantly finding new things to do with it
- There are also third-party operating systems available that can do much more than the base operating system.
Of course, it’s not a substitute for high-end pentesting tools, but it packs a lot of power into a very small and portable package. It’s definitely not a toy, and it’s one of the easiest and cheapest ways to work with RFID and NFC.
It is also a great educational tool and a springboard for raising awareness of cybersecurity among young and old.
To go further on Pinball Zero
Source: “ZDNet.com”