Steal and Escape

Two days ago, I received an email from a guy by the name Jason Richard out of the blue.  Here are his words:

A few months ago, I sent Joe a picture of the hardware hacker library I was building at work and asked him to do the same. After a few messages he felt that I needed your new books for the collection, so he sent them to me.

Things were unfamiliar, but not daunting... Until I got to page 149. That might have been scariest thing I've seen as I imagined someone asking me to RE it. After a few minutes of terror and intense imposter syndrome, I settled down and thought about it. Afterwards, I kept reading to understand how you would tackle the problem. Once again, I'm loving the information you are providing and am wondering if you ever thought someone would classify your books as a thriller? 

Don't ever say, "this is my last book"! For a 40-year-old man just getting into this subject, I need your knowledge. Thank you again. 

I was somewhat taken aback when I read that he classified my books 'as a thriller'. Who is this Jason Richard, anyway? After doing a Google search, I found a man by that name that matched his email address, and who owns the following company:

With so many online scams going on these days, I felt a need to exercise some caution. Since he mentioned he knew Joe (Grand, I suppose), I wrote an email to the Kingpin to check if he had indeed sent him my books. This morning, I received Joe's reply:

Thanks for checking - Yes, Jason is a friend of mine. I sent him a few of your books to add to his ever-growing bookshelf. He's hungry and eager for knowledge! 

Hmm... A founder of a high-tech escape room business in San Diego interested in PCB-RE? That's odd but interesting. But at least now I understand why he'd consider my books on this niche skillset 'a thriller', coming from his adventure games background. That figures. Maybe I'll write a reply and suggest to him the possibility of including reverse engineering skill into his escape room adventure. I'm sure it will be the next big hit!

Well, just a thought, anyway...

 

2nd Appeal for Reviews

Since putting up the appeal for reviews for Manual PCB-RE: The Essentials, there were several submissions posted on Amazon:

This is a good sign. But it still falls short of the number I hope to achieve in order to include into my next release of the book. So I'm making the appeal again to readers who have bought the book to post their reviews. The top ten will have their names and company (if they're comfortable) mentioned on the front inner pages where the reviews will be listed. And the top three entries will receive a FREE copy of my upcoming book Deciphering Schematics.

Don't wait till the last minute. Opportunity never knocks twice!

hardwear.io USA 2022

It's an exciting time at the Delta Hotels in Santa Clara as the much awaited hardwear.io USA 2022 event kick-started. Below is the schedule of the two-day programmes:

Many experts from various fields of hardware hacking will be giving their talks, demonstrating their tools and techniques, and answering questions from participants. Among them are keynote speakers Joe Grand and Window Snyder, and invited speakers Andy Nguyen, Cristofaro Mune, Damien Marion, Duy-Phuc Pham & Annelie Heuser, Daniel Genkin & Roei Schuster, David Kaplan, Derek & Ryan Chow, Francesco Restuccia, Karim Abdellatif, Laura Abbott, Sick Codes, Steffen Robertz, Steve Povolny & Sam Quinn, Jay Cox & Nic Watson, John McMaster, and Marcus Richerson.

A day or two before the event, speakers and hardwear.io staff could be seen setting up their wares and equipment to impress the participants:

Of course, such a large-scale event could not have happen without strong support from sponsors like Google, Leviathan Security Group, Quarkslab:

I'm certain those who made it to this event will have a smashing time learning new skills and winning some prizes, not to mention meeting these hardware legends in person.

Appeal for Reviews

Since it's release about a year ago, Manual PCB-RE - The Essentials has sold quite a few copies despite little publicity and no advertising. Unlike the first three books, the only thing lacking is reviews from readers. Would love to hear from my readers what they think about the content of this book, whether it has helped them learn or pick up essentials in this niche skillset and enable them to be more proficient in their PCB-RE work.

To encourage readers to publish their reviews on Amazon, here's the deal:

1. The ten best reviews will be included in the next print release of the book. This will give reviewers good exposure and publicity so please include your name and job title if you are employed, or company name if you own a business.

2. The top three reviews will get a free copy of my upcoming book, Deciphering Schematics, which will be released sometime in the third quarter of this year.

The deadline for acceptance of reviews will be the date of release of my upcoming book. If you have not gotten a copy of Manual PCB-RE, now is the time to place your order and put in your review. This offer is also extended to those who already own a copy so delay no more and submit your reviews today!

Your positive feedback is my motivation to write.

A Worthy Mention

Books on hardware hacking are on the popular rise and there are a few notable titles that aspiring hackers can learn from. One book, in particular, is The Hardware Hacker's Handbook by Jasper van Woudenberg, which is really about overcoming embedded security.

I'm not giving a review here, in case you're wondering; rather, I was surprised and delighted that the author of this best seller mentioned my sequel, PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques in Chapter 3 (page 106) of his book, which I have produced and highlighted below:

It's always a nice feeling when your work is noticed by another author, a practice I engaged in my own writings to point interested readers to useful sources who want to learn more about a particular related topic. As always, the first and sequel PCB-RE books seem to be a natural choice for those starting out in their PCB-RE journey.

Writing engineering books is hard work that doesn't guarantee success unless there are good reviews and wide publicity from readers and supporters. So I'm counting on you, my friends, to spread the word and help recommend my books. Thanks in advance!