Wago connectors are somewhat controversial in the electrical world—beloved by some, decried by others. The company knows it has a dedicated user base, though, and has established the Wago Creators site for that very community.

The idea behind the site is simple—it’s a place to discover and share unique little tools and accessories for use with Wago’s line of electrical connectors. Most are 3D printed accessories that make working with Wago connectors easier. There are some fun and innovative ideas up there, like an ESP8266 development kit that has a Wago connector for all the important pins, as well as a tool for easily opening the lever locks. Perhaps most amusing, though, is the project entitled “Hide Your Wago From Americans”—which consists of a 3D-printed wire nut lookalike designed to slide over the connectors to keep them out of view. There’s also a cheerful attempt at Wago art, that doesn’t really look like anything recognizable at all. Oh well, they can’t all be winners.

It’s great to see Wago so openly encouraging creativity among those that use its products. The sharing of ideas has been a big part of the 3D printing movement, and Wago isn’t the first company to jump on the bandwagon in this regard. If you’ve got some neat Wago hacks of your own, you can always let us know on the tipsline!

[Thanks to Niklas for the tip!]

hackaday.com/2025/12/02/wagos-…

Oggi a Torino è stato arrestato Filippo Blengino, segretario dei Radicali Italiani, durante un’azione dimostrativa in cui ha ceduto cannabis CBD non drogante. Un gesto di disobbedienza civile che mette in luce l’assurdità dell’articolo 18 del Decreto Sicurezza, una norma che equipara prodotti non stupefacenti allo spaccio e espone le persone a pene fino a vent’anni di carcere.

«Solidarietà da parte di tutta Possibile a Filippo Blengino, arrestato a Torino sulla base di norme inutili e proibizioniste che non producono alcun risultato se non criminalizzare cittadini e imprenditori della cannabis CBD. È un’impostazione anti-scientifica e repressiva, pienamente fatta propria dal governo e dal ddl Sicurezza. Speriamo che la determinazione di Blengino porti l’articolo 18 davanti alla Corte Costituzionale: saremo al suo fianco», dichiara Francesca Druetti, Segretaria nazionale di Possibile.

“Quello che è accaduto a Blengino accade ogni giorno in tutta Italia: anche in Piemonte, da Cuneo in giù, negozi di cannabis legale vengono perquisiti, prodotti sequestrati e persone denunciate come spacciatori, con danni enormi a un intero comparto economico che opera nella legalità”, commenta Giulia Marro, Consigliera Regionale del Piemonte AVS.

Come Possibile e come consigliera regionale del Piemonte di Alleanza Verdi Sinistra, ribadiamo che questa norma va cambiata. Serve una legislazione basata su evidenze scientifiche, non sulla propaganda proibizionista. Serve tutelare chi lavora onestamente, non criminalizzarlo.

L'articolo DRUETTI-MARRO: ARRESTO BLENGINO, UNA NORMA ASSURDA CHE COLPISCE CHI LAVORA NELLA LEGALITÀ proviene da Possibile.

Druetti (Possibile): ONU critica i centri per migranti in Albania, Meloni abbandoni il progetto

“Mentre Meloni continua a dire che “funzioneranno”, i campi per le persone migranti di Gjadër in Albania sono finiti al centro delle preoccupazioni e critiche del comitato ONU contro la Tortura e Comportamenti Disumani e Degradanti. E la notizia già si commenta da sola sottolineando il fallimento e lo scempio etico e politico di questo progetto.”

Lo dichiara la Segretaria Nazionale di Possibile Francesca Druetti, commentando il report del Comitato ONU, disponibile qui: ohchr.org/en/press-releases/20…

“Il Comitato ONU — continua Druetti — ha espresso dubbi sul Protocollo Italia-Albania, in particolare sulla mancanza di chiarezza sulla giurisdizione e sul rispetto del divieto di refoulment (principio fondamentale del diritto internazionale).

Ha inoltre evidenziato dubbi riguardo la conformità alla Convenzione contro la tortura così come l’assenza di dati affidabili su torture, maltrattamenti e uso eccessivo della forza da parte della polizia. La detenzione delle persone migranti è una violazione della dignità umana, come dimostrano chiaramente le numerose prove dai nostri CPR. Deportare le persone contro la propria volontà perlopiù in un paese con cui non hanno legami, non può in alcun modo essere considerato ragionevole o sostenibile.

Noi continueremo a chiedere la chiusura non solo del CPR di Gjader ma anche di tutti quelli presenti in Italia, perché rappresentano luoghi in cui i diritti umani vengono calpestati quotidianamente.”

L'articolo Druetti (Pos): ONU critica i centri per migranti in Albania, Meloni abbandoni il progetto proviene da Possibile.

Not every project has to be complicated– reinventing the wheel has its place, but sometimes you find a module or two that does exactly what you want, and the project is more than halfway done. That the kind of project [mircemk]’s Simple Retro Style VFO is — it’s a variable frequency oscillator for HAM and other use, built with just a couple of modules.
Strictly speaking, this is all you need for the project.
The modules in question are the SI5351 Clock Generator module, which is a handy bit of kit with its own crystal reference and PLL to generate frequencies up to 150 MHz, and the Elecrow CrowPanel 1.28inch-HMI ESP32 Rotary Display. The ESP32 in the CrowPanel controls the SI5351 module via I2C; control is via the rest of the CrowPanel module. This Rotary Display is a circular touchscreen surrounded by a rotary display, so [mircmk] has all the inputs he needs to control the VFO.

To round out the parts count, he adds an appropriate connector, plus a power switch, red LED and a lithium battery. One could include a battery charger module as well, but [mircmk] didn’t have one on hand. Even if he had, that still keeps the parts count well inside the single digits. If you like video, we’ve embedded his about the project below; if not the write up on Hackaday.io is upto [mircmk]’s typical standard.

People have been using the SI5351 to make VFOs for years now, but the addition of the round display makes for a delightfully retro presentation.

Thanks to [mircmk] for the tip.

youtube.com/embed/_3T-qhv57ZI?…

hackaday.com/2025/12/02/retro-…

Sometimes it makes sense to go with plain old batteries and off-the-shelf PVC pipe. That’s the thinking behind [Bertrand Selva]’s clever LoRaTube project.
PVC pipe houses a self-contained LoRa repeater, complete with a big stack of D-size alkaline cells.
LoRa is a fantastic solution for long-range and low-power wireless communication (and popular, judging by the number of projects built around it) and LoRaTube provides an autonomous repeater, contained entirely in a length of PVC pipe. Out the top comes the antenna and inside is all the necessary hardware, along with a stack of good old D-sized alkaline cells feeding a supercap-buffered power supply of his own design. It’s weatherproof, inexpensive, self-contained, and thanks to extremely low standby current should last a good five years by [Bertrand]’s reckoning.

One can make a quick LoRa repeater in about an hour but while the core hardware can be inexpensive, supporting electronics and components (not to mention enclosure) for off-grid deployment can quickly add significant cost. Solar panels, charge controllers, and a rechargeable power supply also add potential points of failure. Sometimes it makes more sense to go cheap, simple, and rugged. Eighteen D-sized alkaline cells stacked in a PVC tube is as rugged as it is affordable, especially if one gets several years’ worth of operation out of it.

You can watch [Bertrand] raise a LoRaTube repeater and do a range test in the video (French), embedded below. Source code and CAD files are on the project page. Black outdoor helper cat not included.

youtube.com/embed/_I2cU9q78XQ?…

hackaday.com/2025/12/02/lora-r…

Learning something on YouTube seems kind of modern. But if you are watching a 1957 instructional film about slide rules, it also seems old-fashioned. But Encyclopædia Britannica has a complete 30-minute training film, which, what it lacks in glitz, it makes up for in mathematical rigor.

We appreciated that it started out talking about numbers and significant figures instead of jumping right into the slide rule. One thing about the slide rule is that you have to sort of understand roughly what the answer is. So, on a rule, 2×3, 20×30, 20×3, and 0.2×300 are all the same operation.

You don’t actually get to the slide rule part for about seven minutes, but it is a good idea to watch the introductory part. The lecturer, [Dr. Havery E. White] shows a fifty-cent plastic rule and some larger ones, including a classroom demonstration model. We were a bit surprised that the prestigious Britannica wouldn’t have a bit better production values, but it is clear. Perhaps we are just spoiled by modern productions.

We love our slide rules. Maybe we are ready for the collapse of civilization and the need for advanced math with no computers. If you prefer reading something more modern, try this post. Our favorites, though, are the cylindrical ones that work the same, but have more digits.

youtube.com/embed/RA0uRxVjZL4?…

hackaday.com/2025/12/02/retrot…

During World War II, as the Allies planned the invasion of Normandy, there was one major hurdle to overcome—logistics. In particular, planners needed to guarantee a solid supply of fuel to keep the mechanized army functional. Tanks, trucks, jeeps, and aircraft all drink petroleum at a prodigious rate. The challenge, then, was to figure out how to get fuel over to France in as great a quantity as possible.

War planners took a diverse approach. A bulk supply of fuel in jerry cans was produced to supply the initial invasion effort, while plans were made to capture port facilities that could handle deliveries from ocean-going tankers. Both had their limitations, so a third method was sought to back them up. Thus was born Operation Pluto—an innovative plan to simply lay fuel pipelines right across the English channel.

Precious Juice

War is thirsty work, and for the soldiers too. Crown copyright, Imperial War Museums
Back in the 1940s, undersea pipelines were rather underexplored technology. However, they promised certain benefits over other methods of shipping fuel to the continent. They would be far more difficult to destroy by aerial attack compared to surface ships or floating pipelines. An undersea pipeline would also be less likely to be damaged by rough sea conditions that were typical in the English Channel.

The idea was granted the codename PLUTO—for Pipe-Line Under The Ocean. Development began as soon as 1942, and the engineering challenges ahead were formidable. The Channel stood a good twenty miles wide at its narrowest point, with strong currents, variable depths, and the ever-present threat of German interference. Any pipeline would need to withstand high pressure from the fuel flowing inside, resist corrosion in seawater, and be flexible enough to handle the uneven seabed. It also needed to be laid quickly and surreptitiously, to ensure that German forces weren’t able to identify and strike the pipelines supplying Allied forces.
A sectioned piece of HAIS pipeline. Note the similarities to then-contemporary undersea cable construction. Credit: Geni, CC BY-SA 3.0
The first pipe developed as part of the scheme was HAIS. It was developed by Siemens Brothers and was in part the brainchild of Clifford Hartley, then Chief Engineer of Anglo-Iranian Oil and an experienced hand at delivering fuel pipelines in tough conditions. Thus the name—which stood for Hartly-Anglo-Iranian-Siemens. It used a 2-inch diameter pipe of extruded pipe to carry the fuel, surrounded by asphalt and paper doused in a vinyl-based resin. It was then wound with a layer of steel tape for strength, and then further layered with jute fiber and more asphalt and paper. The final layers were an armored sheath of galvanized steel wires and a canvas outer cover. The techniques used were inspired by those that had proved successful in the construction of undersea telegraph cables. As designed, the two-inch diameter pipe was intended to flow up to 3,500 imperial gallons of fuel a day when running at 500 psi.

HAIS pipe was produced across several firms in the UK and the US. Initial testing took place with pipe laid across the River Medway. Early efforts proved unsuccessful, with leaks caused by lead from the central core pushing out through the steel tape layer. The steel tape wraps were increased, however, and subsequent testing over the Firth of Clyde was more successful. Trials pushed the pipe up to 1,500 psi, showing that up to 250,000 liters of fuel could be delivered per day. The pipeline also proved robust, surviving a chance attack by a German bomb landing nearby. The positive results from testing led to the development of a larger 3-inch verison of the HAIS pipe to support even greater flow.
HAMEL pipe in long lengths prior to loading on a Conundrum. Crown copyright, Imperial War Museums
By this point in the war, however, supplies were becoming constrained on all sides. In particular, lead was becoming scarce, which spurred a desire for a cheaper pipe design to support Operation PLUTO. Thus was born HAMEL, named after engineers Bernard J. Ellis and H.A. Hammick, who worked on the project.
HAMEL pipe loaded on a Conundrum, ready to be laid on the seafloor. Crown copyright, Imperial War Museums
The HAMEL design concerned a flexible pipe constructed out of mild steel, at 3-½ inches in diameter. Lengths of the pipe were produced in 40-foot segments which would then be resistance welded together to create a longer flexible pipeline that could be laid on the seafloor. The steel-based pipe was stiffer than the cable-like HAIS, which caused an issue—it couldn’t readily be coiled up in a ship’s hold. Instead, giant floating drums were constructed at some 40 feet in diameter, nicknamed “Conundrums.” These were to be towed by tugs or hauled by barges to lay the pipeline across the Channel. Testing took place by laying pipelines to the Isle of Wight, which proved the concept was viable for deployment.

Beyond the two types of pipeline, a great deal of work went into the supporting infrastructure for the project. War planners had to build pumping stations to feed the pipelines, as well as ensure that they could in turn be fed fresh fuel from the UK’s network of fuel storage facilities and refineries. All this had to be done with a certain level of camouflage, lest German aircraft destroy the coastal pumping stations prior to the British invasion of the continent. Two main stations at Sandown and Dungeness were selected, and were intended to be connected via undersea pipe to the French ports of Cherbourg and Ambleteuse, respectively. The Sandown-Cherbourg link was to be named Bambi, while the Dungeness-Ambleteuse link would be named Dumbo, referencing further Disney properties since the overall project was called Pluto.

The Big Dance

On D-Day, the initial landings and immediate securing of the beachhead would run on pre-packaged fuel supplies in jerry cans and drums. The pipelines were intended to come later, ensuring that the Allied forces had the fuel supplies to push deep into Europe as they forced back the German lines. It would take some time to lay the pipelines, and the work could only realistically begin once the initial ports were secure.
A map indicating the Bambi and Dumbo pipelines between England and France. Notably, the Dumbo pipelines were run to Boulogne instead of the original plan of Ambleteuse. Credit: public domain
Bambi was intended to go into operation just 75 days after D-Day, assuming that Allied forces had managed to capture the port of Cherbourg within eight days of the landings. This process instead took 21 days due to the vagaries of war. Efforts to lay a HAIS pipeline began as soon as 12 August 1944, just 67 days after D-Day, only to fail due to an anchor strike by an escort destroyer. The second effort days later was scuppered when the piping was wound up in the propeller of a supporting craft. A HAMEL pipelaying effort on 27 August would also fail thanks to barnacles jamming the massive Conundrum from rotating, and while cleaning efforts freed it up, the pipeline eventually broke after just 29 nautical miles of the 65 nautical mile journey.

It wasn’t until 22 September that a HAIS cable was successfully installed across the Channel, and began delivering 56,000 imperial gallons a day. A HAMEL pipe was then completed on the 29 September. However, both pipes would fail just days later on October 3 as pressure was increased to up the rate of fuel delivery, and the Bambi effort was cancelled. Despite the great efforts of all involved, the pipelines had delivered just 935,000 imperial gallons, or 3,300 long tons of fuel—a drop in the ocean relative to what the war effort required.
A Conundrum pictured as it was towed to Cherbourg to lay a HAMEL pipeline as part of Operation Bambi. Credit: public domain
Dumbo would prove more successful, perhaps with little surprise that the distances involved were shorter. The first HAIS pipeline was completed and operational by 26 October. The pipeline was redirected from Dungeness to Boulogne instead of the original plan to go to Ambleteuse thanks to heavy mining by the Germans, and covered a distance of 23 nautical miles. More HAIS and HAMEL pipelines followed, and the pipeline would later be extended to Calais to use its rail links for delivery further inland.

A total of 17 pipelines were eventually laid between the two coasts by the end of 1944. They could deliver up to 1,300 long tons of fuel per day—soon eclipsing the Bambi efforts many times over. The HAMEL pipelines proved somewhat unreliable, but the HAIS cable-like pipes held up well and none broke during their use until the end of the war in Europe. The pipelines stuck to supplying petrol, while initial plans to deliver other fuels such as high-octane aviation spirit were discarded.
Once a key piece of war infrastructure, now a small part of a thrilling minigolf course. Credit: Paul Coueslant, CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall, Operation Pluto would deliver 370,000 long tons of fuel to support Allied forces, or about 8 percent of the total. The rest was largely delivered by oceangoing tankers, with some additional highly-expensive aerial delivery operations used when logistical lines were stretched to their very limits. Bulk fuel delivery by undersea pipeline had been proven possible, but perhaps not decisively important when it came to wartime logistics.
A small section of pipeline left over from Operation Pluto at Shanklin Chine on the Isle of Wight. Credit: Crookesmoor, CC BY SA 3.0
Arguments as to the value of the project abound in war history circles. On the one hand, Operation Pluto was yet another impressive engineering feat achieved in the effort to bring the war to an end. On the other hand, it was a great deal of fuss and ultimately only delivered a moderate portion of the fuel needed to support forces in theatre. In any case, there are still lingering reminders of Operation Pluto today—like a former pumping station that has been converted into a minigolf course, or remnants of the pipelines on the Isle of Wight.

Since World War II, we’ve seen precious few conflicts where infrastructure plays such a grand role in the results of combat. Nevertheless, the old saying always rings true—when it comes to war, amateurs discuss tactics, while professionals study logistics.

hackaday.com/2025/12/02/how-cr…

Assuming you’re not stuck in a prison cell without windows, you could feasibly keep track of the moon and tides by walking outside and jotting things down in your notebook. Alternatively, you could save a lot of hassle by just building this moon and tide clock from [pjdines1994] instead.

The build is based on a Raspberry Pi Pico W, which is hooked up to a real-time clock module and a Waveshare 3.7-inch e-paper display. Upon this display, the clock draws an image relevant to the current phase of the moon. As the write-up notes, it was a tad fussy to store 24 images for all the different lunar phases within the Pi Pico, but it was achieved nonetheless with a touch of compression. As for tides, it covers those too by pulling in tide information from an online resource.

It’s specifically set up to report the local tides for [pjdines1994], reporting the high tide and low tide times for Whitstable in the United Kingdom. If you’re not in Whitstable, you’d probably want to reconfigure the clock before using it yourself. Unless you really want to know what’s up in Whitstable, of course. If you so wish, you can set the clock up to make its own tide predictions by running local calculations, but [pjdines1994] notes that this is rather more complicated to do. The finished result look quite good, because [pjdines1994] decided to build it inside an old carriage clock that only reveals parts of the display showing the moon and the relevant tide numbers.

We’ve featured some other great tide clocks before, like this grand 3D printed design. If you’ve built your own arcane machine to plot the dances of celestial objects, do be sure to let us know on the tipsline!

hackaday.com/2025/12/02/a-styl…

We’ve all been there. You’ve found a beautiful piece of older hardware at the thrift store, and bought it for a song. You rush it home, eager to tinker, but you soon find it’s just not working. You open it up to attempt a repair, but you could really use some information on what you’re looking at and how to enter service mode. Only… a Google search turns up nothing but dodgy websites offering blurry PDFs for entirely the wrong model, and you’re out of luck.

These days, when you buy an appliance, the best documentation you can expect is a Quick Start guide and a warranty card you’ll never use. Manufacturers simply don’t want to give you real information, because they think the average consumer will get scared and confused. I think they can do better. I’m demanding a new two-tier documentation system—the basics for the normies, and real manuals for the tech heads out there.

Give Us The Goods

Once upon a time, appliances came with real manuals and real documentation. You could buy a radio that came with a full list of valves that were used inside, while telephones used to come with printed circuit diagrams right inside the case. But then the world changed, and a new phrase became a common sight on consumer goods—”NO USER SERVICABLE PARTS INSIDE.” No more was the end user considered qualified or able to peek within the case of the hardware they’d bought. They were fools who could barely be trusted to turn the thing on and work it properly, let alone intervene in the event something needed attention.

This attitude has only grown over the years. As our devices have become ever more complex, the documentation delivered with them has shrunk to almost non-existent proportions. Where a Sony television manual from the 1980s contained a complete schematic of the whole set, a modern smartphone might only include a QR code linking to basic setup instructions on a website online. It’s all part of an effort by companies to protect the consumer from themselves, because they surely can’t be trusted with the arcane knowledge of what goes on inside a modern device.

This Sony tv manual from 1985 contained the complete electrical schematics for the set.
byu/a_seventh_knot inmildlyinteresting

This sort of intensely technical documentation was the norm just a few decades ago.
Some vintage appliances used to actually have the schematic printed inside the case for easy servicing. Credit: British Post Office
It’s understandable, to a degree. When a non-technical person buys a television, they really just need to know how to plug it in and hook it up to an aerial. With the ongoing decline in literacy rates, it’s perhaps a smart move by companies to not include any further information than that. Long words and technical information would just make it harder for these customers to figure out how to use the TV in the first place, and they might instead choose a brand that offers simpler documentation.

This doesn’t feel fair for the power user set. There are many of us who want to know how to change our television’s color mode, how to tinker with the motion smoothing settings, and how to enter deeper service modes when something seems awry. And yet, that information is kept from us quite intentionally. Often, it’s only accessible in service manuals that are only made available through obscure channels to selected people authorised by OEMs.

Two Tiers, Please

Finding old service manuals can be a crapshoot, but sometimes you get lucky with popular models. Credit: Google via screenshot
I don’t think it has to be this way. I think it’s perfectly fine for manufacturers to include simple, easy-to-follow instructions with consumer goods. However, I don’t think that should preclude them from also offering detailed technical manuals for those users that want and need them. I think, in fact, that these should be readily available as a matter of course.

Call it a “superuser manual,” and have it only available via a QR code in the back of the basic, regular documentation. Call it an “Advanced Technical Supplement” or a “Calibration And Maintenance Appendix.” Whatever jargon scares off the normies so they don’t accidentally come across it and then complain to tech support that they don’t know why their user interface is now only displaying garbled arcane runes. It can be a little hard to find, but at the end of the day, it should be a simple PDF that can be downloaded without a lot of hurdles or paywalls.

I’m not expecting manufacturers to go back to giving us full schematics for everything. It would be nice, but realistically it’s probably overkill. You can just imagine what that would like for a modern smartphone or even just a garden variety automobile in 2025. However, I think it’s pretty reasonable to expect something better than the bare basics of how to interact with the software and such. The techier manuals should, at a minimum, indicate how to do things like execute a full reset, enter any service modes, and indicate how the device is to be safely assembled and disassembled should one wish to execute repairs.

Of course, this won’t help those of us repairing older gear from the 90s and beyond. If you want to fix that old S-VHS camcorder from 1995, you’re still going to have to go to some weird website and risk your credit card details over a $30 charge for a service manual that might cover your problem. But it would be a great help for any new gear moving forward. Forums died years ago, so we can no longer Google for a post from some old retired tech who remembers the secret key combination to enter the service menu. We need that stuff hosted on manufacturer websites so we can get it in five minutes instead of five hours of strenuous research.

Will any manufacturers actually listen to this demand? Probably, no. This sort of change needs to happen at a higher level. Perhaps the right to repair movement and some boisterous EU legislation could make it happen. After all, there is an increasing clamour for users to have more rights over the hardware and appliances they pay for. If and when it happens, I will be cheering when the first manuals for techies become available. Heaven knows we deserve them!

hackaday.com/2025/12/02/give-u…

Connected devices are ubiquitous in our era of wireless chips heavily relying on streaming data to someone else’s servers. This sentence might already start to sound dodgy, and it doesn’t get better when you think about today’s smart glasses, like the ones built by Meta (aka Facebook).

[sh4d0wm45k] doesn’t shy away from fighting fire with fire, and shows you how to build a wireless device detecting Meta’s smart glasses – or any other company’s Bluetooth devices, really, as long as you can match them by the beginning of the Bluetooth MAC address.

[sh4d0wm45k]’s device is a mini light-up sign saying “GLASSHOLE”, that turns bright white as soon as a pair of Meta glasses is detected in the vicinity. Under the hood, a commonly found ESP32 devboard suffices for the task, coupled to two lines of white LEDs on a custom PCB. The code is super simple, sifting through packets flying through the air, and lets you easily contribute with your own OUIs (Organizationally Unique Identifier, first three bytes of a MAC address). It wouldn’t be hard to add such a feature to any device of your own with Arduino code under its hood, or to rewrite it to fit a platform of your choice.

We’ve been talking about smart glasses ever since Google Glass, but recently, with Meta’s offerings, the smart glasses debate has reignited. Due to inherent anti-social aspects of the technology, we can see what’d motivate one to build such a hack. Perhaps, the next thing we’ll see is some sort of spoofed packets shutting off the glasses, making them temporarily inoperable in your presence in a similar way we’ve seen with spamming proximity pairing packets onto iPhones.

hackaday.com/2025/12/02/build-…

Le autorità olandesi hanno pubblicato i dati che dimostrano come il coinvolgimento degli adolescenti nella criminalità digitale sia solitamente temporaneo. Un’analisi preparata dalla Camera dei Rappresentanti indica che l’interesse precoce per l’hacking spesso svanisce entro i 20 anni, e solo pochi mantengono un interesse duraturo.

Il rapporto sottolinea che gli adolescenti iniziano a commettere vari tipi di reati più o meno alla stessa età. I reati informatici non sono più comuni dei reati legati alle armi o alla droga, e significativamente meno comuni dei reati contro la proprietà. Inoltre, il percorso verso i primi tentativi passa in genere attraverso simulazioni di gioco che consentono loro di sviluppare competenze tecniche.

Secondo i dati raccolti nel corso degli anni, il picco di attività criminale tra i giovani criminali si è verificato tra i diciassette e i vent’anni. Questa tendenza è coerente con altre tipologie di reato. In uno studio condotto nel 2013 su un campione di diverse centinaia di giovani delinquenti, la maggior parte dei partecipanti ha cessato tale attività poco dopo aver raggiunto il picco.

I ricercatori stimano che la percentuale di coloro che continuano a commettere crimini digitali dopo i vent’anni sia pari a circa il quattro percento. La ricercatrice Alice Hutchings ha osservato già nel 2016 che il coinvolgimento a lungo termine deriva da un interesse costante per la tecnologia e dal desiderio di sviluppare competenze, piuttosto che da incentivi esterni.

Gli autori dell’analisi governativa sottolineano che la maggior parte degli studi sta diventando obsoleta a causa dei rapidi cambiamenti nell’ambiente digitale. A titolo di confronto, citano i dati sui costi sociali totali della criminalità minorile, pari a circa 10,3 miliardi di euro all’anno. La maggior parte dell’onere ricade sulle vittime, mentre la parte restante ricade sui servizi pubblici, tra cui la polizia e il sistema giudiziario.

I costi annuali precisi della criminalità digitale sono difficili da stimare a causa della mancanza di dati a lungo termine. Tuttavia, i dati indiretti ci permettono di stimare l’entità del problema. Ad esempio, uno studio commissionato dal governo del Regno Unito ha rilevato che i danni annuali causati da tre attacchi a un importante ospedale potrebbero superare gli 11 milioni di sterline. Questi importi sono paragonabili o superiori ai costi di molte categorie di criminalità nei Paesi Bassi.

In precedenza, le agenzie governative del Paese hanno ripetutamente sottolineato la difficoltà di quantificare l’impatto degli attacchi digitali. Ad esempio, un rapporto preparato da Deloitte per il governo olandese nel 2016 stimava le perdite annuali per le organizzazioni derivanti da incidenti informatici in circa 10 miliardi di euro, una cifra paragonabile al costo totale della delinquenza minorile.

L'articolo La maggior parte degli adolescenti abbandona la criminalità digitale entro i 20 anni proviene da Red Hot Cyber.

I proprietari di Porsche in Russia riscontrano sempre più problemi con gli allarmi da parte della fabbrica, rendendo impossibile l’utilizzo delle loro auto. Le loro auto non si avviano, si bloccano subito dopo l’avviamento o visualizzano errori relativi al motore. I responsabili della concessionaria Rolf hanno dichiarato a RBC di aver notato un aumento delle chiamate di assistenza dal 28 novembre a causa del blocco degli allarmi via satellite.

Secondo la responsabile del servizio clienti dell’azienda, Yulia Trushkova, attualmente non esiste alcuna correlazione tra i modelli e i tipi di motori e, in teoria, qualsiasi veicolo può essere immobilizzato.

Attualmente, l’immobilizzazione può essere aggirata resettando l’unità di allarme di fabbrica e smontandola. La causa del malfunzionamento non è ancora stata determinata, ma l’azienda osserva che è possibile che sia stata eseguita intenzionalmente. Situazioni simili, secondo Rolf, si sono verificate anche tra i proprietari di Mercedes-Benz, ma tali incidenti sono molto più rari.

In precedenza, il canale Telegram SHOT aveva riferito che centinaia di Porsche in tutta la Russia erano state dichiarate “illegali” a causa di un malfunzionamento del sistema di allarme di fabbrica, attribuito a problemi di comunicazione. I conducenti di Mosca, Krasnodar e altre città hanno segnalato problemi. Alcuni proprietari hanno riferito di aver temporaneamente bypassato il sistema scollegando la batteria per circa dieci ore per consentire al sistema di allarme di scaricarsi e riavviarsi.

Secondo la rivista Avto.ru, i proprietari di modelli Cayenne, Macan e Panamera si sono rivolti principalmente ai centri di assistenza per reclami simili. I reclami relativi a motori che si spengono e blocchi del motore si verificano da anni, ma sono diventati diffusi quest’autunno. Secondo i dati preliminari, il problema è prevalente nei veicoli prodotti prima del 2020 e dotati del vecchio sistema di localizzazione GSM/GPS VTS (Vehicle Tracking System). Il canale Telegram “Porsche Club Russia” cita come causa principale un malfunzionamento del modulo satellitare, con limitazioni e blocchi della comunicazione. I conducenti sottolineano che scollegare la batteria è visto come una soluzione temporanea, che consente loro di raggiungere un centro di assistenza.

Gli allarmi satellitari di questi veicoli si basano su sistemi di navigazione e sono progettati per migliorare la sicurezza e monitorare le condizioni del veicolo, anche in caso di tentativi di furto o fattori esterni. Se il veicolo è bloccato, il sistema antifurto può impedire l’avviamento del motore, del motorino di avviamento o dell’accensione, nonché interrompere l’alimentazione del carburante e attivare le spie luminose del veicolo in modalità anomala.

La casa automobilistica tedesca Porsche AG ha cessato le consegne ufficiali di auto in Russia nel 2022, citando “la grande incertezza e gli attuali sconvolgimenti”. Tuttavia, l’azienda gestisce ancora tre filiali russe: Porsche Russia, Porsche Center Moscow e PFS Russia.

I tentativi di vendere queste attività si sono finora rivelati infruttuosi. Autonews aveva precedentemente riportato, citando la sede centrale dell’azienda, che il Gruppo Volkswagen, che include Porsche, ha annullato i suoi obblighi di fornire assistenza post-vendita e ricambi per i veicoli precedentemente venduti in Russia.

L'articolo Le Porsche in Russia non si avviano più! Un presunto bug non fa partire il motore proviene da Red Hot Cyber.

Le forze dell’ordine in Svizzera e Germania hanno segnalato lo smantellamento di Cryptomixer, un importante servizio di mixing attivo dal 2016 che aiutava i criminali a riciclare fondi ottenuti illecitamente. Secondo l’Europol, negli ultimi anni il servizio ha elaborato oltre 1,3 miliardi di euro in Bitcoin (circa 1,5 miliardi di dollari).

L’Operazione Olympia ha avuto luogo a Zurigo a fine novembre. Durante i raid, durati dal 24 al 28 novembre, le forze dell’ordine, con il supporto di Europol ed Eurojust, hanno sequestrato tre server contenenti oltre 12 terabyte di dati, bloccato domini sulla rete Internet tradizionale e sulla rete Tor e confiscato Bitcoin per un valore di 24 milioni di euro (circa 29 milioni di dollari). Nessun arresto è stato segnalato nei comunicati stampa ufficiali.

“Cryptomixer era un servizio di mixing ibrido che operava simultaneamente su internet e sul darknet. Facilitava l’occultamento di proventi illeciti per gruppi estorsivi, forum ombra e mercati darknet. Il suo software bloccava il tracciamento dei fondi sulla blockchain, rendendo la piattaforma una delle preferite dai criminali informatici che cercavano di riciclare proventi illeciti provenienti da varie attività criminali (tra cui traffico di droga, traffico di armi, attacchi ransomware e frodi con carte di pagamento)”, riferiscono i rappresentanti dell’Europol.

Le autorità sottolineano che tali servizi garantiscono ai criminali l’anonimato in una fase critica, ovvero quando devono convertire i beni rubati in moneta fiat o altre criptovalute. Sebbene tali piattaforme possano teoricamente avere applicazioni legali, nella pratica i loro principali utenti rimangono gruppi criminali che cercano di eludere l’identificazione e l’arresto.

Vale la pena notare che questa non è la prima grande operazione delle forze dell’ordine contro i mixer di criptovalute.

Ad esempio, a del marzo 2023, l’Europol ha coordinato un’operazione simile contro ChipMixer, uno dei più grandi servizi di mixing di criptovalute sul darknet. La polizia tedesca e l’FBI sequestrarono quattro server, 7 TB di dati e 46,5 milioni di dollari in Bitcoin.

Ricordiamo inoltre che alla fine di novembre i fondatori del mixer di criptovalute Samourai sono stati condannati al carcere negli Stati Uniti, colpevoli di riciclaggio di oltre 237 milioni di dollari.

La chiusura di Cryptomixer rappresenta un altro duro colpo per l’ecosistema criminale delle criptovalute e dimostra che la comunità internazionale delle forze dell’ordine sta combattendo sempre più contro gli strumenti che consentono ai criminali di nascondere le loro attività illegali nello spazio digitale.

L'articolo Smantellato Cryptomixer, il servizio di mixing che aiutava i criminali a riciclare Bitcoin proviene da Red Hot Cyber.

Nel panorama dei forum underground esistono attori che operano in modo episodico, alla ricerca di un singolo colpo mediatico, e altri che costruiscono nel tempo una pipeline quasi industriale di compromissioni, rilasciando dataset tecnici e informazioni interne di aziende in tutto il mondo. Tra questi, uno dei profili più riconoscibili è quello che si presenta con il semplice alias “888”.

Attivo almeno dal 2024, 888 è oggi considerato uno dei data-leaker più prolifici della scena, con oltre un centinaio di breach rivendicati e una presenza costante nei forum più frequentati del cybercrime anglofono. A differenza dei gruppi ransomware strutturati, non opera con modalità estorsive, non negozia e non utilizza countdown: il suo modello è basato su vendita privata e rilascio pubblico di dataset selezionati, con l’obiettivo evidente di alimentare reputazione, visibilità e domanda.

A novembre 2025, 888 torna al centro dell’attenzione pubblicando un archivio dal titolo eloquente:
“Ryanair Internal Communications”.

Un dump che include dati relativi alle prenotazioni, alle tratte, ai numeri di volo, ai processi di gestione dei claim e soprattutto alle interazioni interne del dipartimento legal/claims della compagnia.

Il profilo operativo di 888: un attore individuale, costante e opportunistico

Ho fatto delle ricerche storiche sulle attività di 888 e le informazioni raccolte delineano un profilo chiaro:

• attore singolo: senza una struttura organizzata
• attivo nei vari dark forum: prima su Breach Forum adesso su Dark Forum, dove ha ricoperto anche ruoli moderativi
• tecnicamente competente: ma più orientato all’exploitation di misconfigurazioni, bucket cloud esposti e servizi pubblici vulnerabili
• finanziariamente motivato: con una storicità di vendite private di database
• nessuna agenda politica: nessuna connessione pubblica con gruppi RaaS
• pattern coerente: leak di codice sorgente, configurazioni, archivi corporate, database utenti

La sua attività attraversa settori diversi: tech, education, retail, automotive, energy, piattaforme SaaS, e più recentemente aviation.
888 punta ai dataset ripetibili e monetizzabili, non agli ambienti complessi come OT o ICS.

Una caratteristica rara che lo contraddistingue: la continuità. La sua reputazione deriva proprio da questo.

La fonte più interessante è l’intervista rilasciata a Sam Bent per la sua rubrica “Darknet Dialogues” dove emergono particolari interessanti su 888: il suo mentore? Kevin Mitnik. Il suo punto di vista su IA e Hacking? tutto il suo lavoro è solo frutto delle sue conoscenze e skills.

Il caso Ryanair: cosa emerge davvero dai sample

All’interno del thread dedicato alla compagnia aerea compaiono diversi sample CSV, che rappresentano estrazioni coerenti con un sistema di gestione delle dispute legali e dei reclami EU261.

La struttura dei dati evidenzia chiaramente:

• ticketId, groupTicketId, caseNo, decisionNo, refNumber
• aeroporti di partenza e destinazione (BVA, BLQ, PMO, TRN, BGY, AHO, GOA, BDS…)
• numeri di volo (FR 4831, FR 9369, FR 4916, FR 2254, FR 1011…)
• nome e cognome dei passeggeri coinvolti
• team interni assegnati alla pratica
• riferimenti a: “info retrieved from the summons”, meal expenses, hotel expenses, EU261
• timestamp ISO-8601 per gli aggiornamenti delle pratiche
• descrizioni testuali interne dei casi

Ho avuto modo di analizzare i sample “offerti” nel post su Dark Forum e si tratta di comunicazioni provenienti da passeggeri italiani, riferite a dispute legali o a richieste di rimborso per disservizi di varia natura.

I possibili vettori di compromissione possono essere solo ipotizzati, poiché 888 non fornisce alcun dettaglio sul metodo utilizzato per ottenere i dati. La pista più verosimile è la compromissione di un sistema di CRM o case management utilizzato per gestire le comunicazioni con i clienti e le pratiche legali, anche tramite partner esterni.

Come si inserisce il breach di Ryanair nella storia di 888

L’incidente aviation non è un’eccezione: si integra perfettamente nel modus operandi di 888.
Il threat actor infatti ha già rivendicato:

• dataset di IBM (17.500 dipendenti)
• archivi BMW Hong Kong
• dati di Microsoft
• codice sorgente di piattaforme brasiliane (CIEE One)
• database di piattaforme e-commerce, logistiche e retail
• dump di aziende fintech, ONG internazionali e marketplace online

888 non cerca mai l’effetto “shock”: non pubblica tutto subito, non crea negoziazioni, non orchestra estorsioni.
Semplicemente rilascia, spesso dopo aver venduto privatamente il materiale.

Ryanair, in questo contesto, è un tassello di una catena più ampia, non un focus specifico.

888 è un attore che vive nella zona grigia tra l’intrusion broker e il data-leaker opportunistico, con una pipeline strutturata di compromissioni, una forte attività nei forum underground e un occhio costante verso i dataset che possono generare ritorno economico o reputazionale.

Il caso Ryanair non rappresenta un incidente isolato, ma l’ennesima conferma della sua traiettoria: un attore singolo, costante, metodico, che si muove lungo una supply chain digitale globale dove ogni anello debole – un bucket esposto, un repository dimenticato, un servizio di ticketing non protetto – diventa un nuovo dump da pubblicare.

Fonti utilizzate per redigere l’articolo:

• Ryanair Data Breach: 7 Key Findings Revealed in This Urgent Analysis
• Threat Actor Releases Supposed Ryanair Internal Emails and Ticketing Data
• Threat Actor 888 (Malpedia Profile)
• IBM Hacked? Threat Actor ‘888’ Reveals Thousands of Employees’ Data Leak
• Cybercriminals Target Brazil: 248,725 Exposed in CIEE One Data Breach
• 888 Interview – Darknet Dialogues (YouTube)
• Brinztech Alert: Database of Ryanair is Leaked
• A data breach by threat actor 888 has exposed over 430,000 user records
• Hello Cake Data Breach (Have I Been Pwned)
• Dark Web Threats Targeting the Airline Industry
• Alleged Data Breach of LG A threat actor using the alias “888”
• Threat Actor “888” Claims LG Electronics Data Breach
• LG Data Leak: 888 Threat Actor Exposes Source Code
• Nutergia Laboratory Data Breach by Threat Actor “888”
• 888 – Details | BreachHQ by Beyond Identity
• IBM staff data allegedly leaked in cyber attack
• Cyber Intelligence – Darkeye

L'articolo 888: il data-leaker seriale! L’outsider del darkweb che ha costruito un impero di dati rubati proviene da Red Hot Cyber.