# Ep077: Secret Life of SD Cards, Mining Minecraft's Secret Seed, BadPower is Bad, and a Sea of Neon

- Show: [Hackaday Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast)
- Published: 2020-07-23
- Length: 53m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2020-07-23-ep077-secret-life-of-sd-cards-mining-minecrafts-secret-seed-badpower-is-bad-and
- Listen: https://hackaday.libsyn.com/ep077-secret-life-of-sd-cards-mining-minecrafts-secret-seed-badpower-is-bad-and-a-sea-of-neon

## Summary

Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams discuss several hardware hacks, including Jason Jin's discovery of hidden test pads on SD cards to identify internal flash memory, and a 2016 hack that bypassed an SD card's microcontroller by wiring directly to these pads. They also cover a 'BadPower' vulnerability in USB fast chargers where rewritable firmware could force incorrect voltages, and the successful brute-forcing of the secret seed for Minecraft's title screen background using distributed computing.

## Chapters

- [0:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2020-07-23-ep077-secret-life-of-sd-cards-mining-minecrafts-secret-seed-badpower-is-bad-and#t=1) Bricked Samsung Blu-ray Players and Conference News
- [5:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2020-07-23-ep077-secret-life-of-sd-cards-mining-minecrafts-secret-seed-badpower-is-bad-and#t=350) SD Card Test Pads and Bypassing Microcontrollers
- [14:25](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2020-07-23-ep077-secret-life-of-sd-cards-mining-minecrafts-secret-seed-badpower-is-bad-and#t=865) BadPower USB Charger Vulnerability
- [19:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2020-07-23-ep077-secret-life-of-sd-cards-mining-minecrafts-secret-seed-badpower-is-bad-and#t=1190) Mining Minecraft's Secret Seed
- [30:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2020-07-23-ep077-secret-life-of-sd-cards-mining-minecrafts-secret-seed-badpower-is-bad-and#t=1813) Neon Tube Display and Tin Can Modem
- [38:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2020-07-23-ep077-secret-life-of-sd-cards-mining-minecrafts-secret-seed-badpower-is-bad-and#t=2283) Quick Hacks and Can't Miss Articles

## Topics

- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Sensors & measurement in products](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sensors)
- [Security & privacy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/security-and-privacy)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)

## Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

## Mentioned

- Samsung (company)
- Sandisk (company)
- Minecraft (product)
- Folding@Home (other)
- CNC Kitchen (other)
- Pierre Muth (other)
- Christina Panos (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [An Interview with Dmitry Nedospasov](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-06-17-an-interview-with-dmitry-nedospasov) (The Amp Hour)
- [286: Twenty Cans of Gas](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2019-04-18-286-twenty-cans-of-gas) (Embedded.fm)
- [038 - My Favorite Random Number is 5](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2020-08-23-038-my-favorite-random-number-is-5) (Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast)
- [286: Twenty Cans of Gas (Repeat)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2021-11-12-286-twenty-cans-of-gas-repeat) (Embedded.fm)
- [An Interview with Joe FitzPatrick](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2017-06-05-an-interview-with-joe-fitzpatrick) (The Amp Hour)

## Citing this page

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