Hak5 — Offensive Security Hardware, Explained
一句話定位:Hak5 是全世界最知名的「攻擊型」安全硬體品牌 — 從替別人收發鍵盤敲擊的 USB Rubber Ducky,到假裝成咖啡店 Wi-Fi 的 WiFi Pineapple。本節用大學課程等級的詳細度,帶你一步一步認識每一台裝置、怎麼設定、怎麼寫 Payload、出了問題怎麼修。
Hak5 started in 2005 as a podcast about hacking and technology, and grew into the company that practically defined the "plug-and-pwn" category of security hardware. Their philosophy is simple: computers trust USB and Ethernet devices implicitly — so those trust boundaries are exactly where you test them. If you are studying cybersecurity, doing CTFs, or preparing for a red-team career, these are the tools you will see in every lab, every conference talk, and every job posting.
This section of the wiki is your complete study guide: every product we carry, with official specifications, beginner-friendly quickstarts, DuckyScript examples, and a troubleshooting index — all written so that a first-year student can follow along, and detailed enough that a working pentester will still find something new.
⚠️ Legal note — read this once. Everything in this section is for authorized security testing only: your own lab, your own devices, or a network you have written permission to test. Laws about unauthorized access exist in every country (in Taiwan, see 刑法第 358–363 條 and 個資法). Hacking without permission is a crime — with these tools it is also trivially detectable by the defensive tools we cover on this very page. Play in your sandbox.
How this wiki is organised
| Page | What you'll find |
|---|---|
| Quickstart | First 15 minutes with any Hak5 device — arming modes, first payload, first scan |
| Firmware & Downloads | Official firmware, PayloadStudio, and every payload repository in one table |
| FAQ | "Which device do I need?" and the questions every beginner asks |
| Troubleshooting | LED colour meanings, SSH connection failures, payloads that won't run |
| Products (below) | Deep dives on all 17 devices |
The Hak5 ecosystem at a glance
Hak5 devices all share three design ideas. Once you learn one, you learn them all:
- Payloads over configs — you don't "program" the hardware; you drop a script file onto it.
- Arming mode — a switch, button, or keystroke turns the device into a normal flash drive / web UI so you can load payloads safely.
- Loot folders — captured data (keystrokes, scans, screenshots) lands in a
lootdirectory you can grab later.
The product catalogue
Wi-Fi audit platforms (rogue access points)
| Device | One-liner | Difficulty | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| WiFi Pineapple Mark VII | The classic dual-band rogue AP with the PineAP suite — the tool that made "evil twin" a household word | Beginner | Full guide |
| WiFi Pineapple Enterprise | A 1U rack monster with 5 dual-band radios for heavy-duty, multi-target airspace audits | Advanced | Full guide |
| WiFi Pineapple Pager | The 20th-anniversary flagship: tri-band (2.4/5/6 GHz), a 2.4" screen, and DuckyScript payloads — fully standalone, no laptop needed | Intermediate | Full guide |
Keystroke injection & keyloggers
| Device | One-liner | Difficulty | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| USB Rubber Ducky | The king of keystroke injection: a USB stick that types at 1,000 WPM | Beginner | Full guide |
| Bash Bunny Mark II | A multi-vector USB attack platform: keyboard + Ethernet + serial + storage, all at once, with a quad-core brain | Intermediate | Full guide |
| Key Croc | A hardware keylogger disguised as a keyboard adapter that also attacks when you type keywords | Intermediate | Full guide |
Network access & manipulation
| Device | One-liner | Difficulty | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shark Jack | A pocket-sized network recon box: plug into any Ethernet jack, get a scan in seconds | Beginner | Full guide |
| Shark Jack Cable | The same box, powered by USB-C with a serial console — runs as long as power flows | Beginner | Full guide |
| Packet Squirrel Mark II | An inline Ethernet man-in-the-middle: sniff, proxy, redirect DNS, or jail devices — at the flip of a switch | Intermediate | Full guide |
| Plunder Bug LAN Tap | A passive/active Ethernet tap with USB-C — Wireshark in your pocket | Beginner | Full guide |
Covert implants (O.MG family)
| Device | One-liner | Difficulty | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| O.MG Cable | A malicious USB cable with a hidden WiFi implant — the $20,000 nation-state attack, now on your desk | Advanced | Full guide |
| O.MG Plug | The same implant in a keychain USB plug | Advanced | Full guide |
| O.MG Adapter | The implant in a USB-A-to-C adapter — plug it into phones and tablets too | Advanced | Full guide |
| O.MG UnBlocker | The implant hidden inside a "safe" USB data blocker — the defender's tool, weaponised | Advanced | Full guide |
| O.MG Programmer | The universal programmer that activates and updates every O.MG device | Intermediate | Full guide |
Video & defense
| Device | One-liner | Difficulty | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screen Crab | A covert HDMI man-in-the-middle that silently screenshots or records any display | Intermediate | Full guide |
| Malicious Cable Detector | The only consumer tool that detects all known malicious USB cables — including O.MG's own | Beginner | Full guide |
Where should you start?
New to all of this? Here is a suggested learning path:
- Read the Quickstart — it explains arming mode, payloads, and loot, the three concepts everything else builds on.
- Start with a USB Rubber Ducky — it is the cheapest, safest, and most instructive way to see a payload execute. You only need your own computer and Notepad.
- Set up a lab — a spare router, an old laptop, or a virtual machine you own. The ALFA Network section explains how to pair a USB Wi-Fi adapter with Kali Linux for monitor mode, which the WiFi Pineapple also loves.
- Level up to a WiFi Pineapple Mark VII — evil-twin attacks are the single most "wow" demo in wireless security, and the Pineapple guide walks through it step by step.
- When something breaks — hit the Troubleshooting index first; 80% of beginner problems are the same four causes.
You might be asking: "Do I need to buy all of this to learn?" No. The concepts — HID injection, rogue APs, network taps — transfer directly to free tools you already have: a $2 Arduino can type keystrokes,
hostapdcan fake an AP,tcpdumpcan sniff. Hak5 hardware just packages them into something reliable enough for professional engagements. Start with one device and your own lab.