4 ms·

5th image bottom left you can see a little board with 3 black wires running off of it that doesn't look original. Could be a factory bodge but definitely looks

by xvf22 6y ago

5th image bottom left you can see a little board with 3 black wires running off of it that doesn't look original. Could be a factory bodge but definitely looks a bit out of place.

tyingq 6y ago
Ah, thanks. Though the slides talk about, for example, the Spartan 6, which is on the larger board and seems factory looking. That white connector on the little tap board appears to plug into J4 on this board: http://buggedplanet.info/lost+found/20180323/Images/18.jpg http://buggedplanet.info/lost+found/20180323/Images/18.jpg So that larger board would have to be part of the conspiracy. It's the one with the 2 FPGAs, NAND memory, board trace antenna, etc. That board is obviously custom fit for this specific phone, with passthrough cutouts for the LCD ribbon cable, mounting screws, etc. Edit: Actually, I can make out a chip in the top left of that larger board linked above that says SX1231 on it, which is a Semtech UHF transceiver. The QFN24 packaging matches as well. Small excerpt from the data sheet: "The SX1231 is a highly integrated RF transceiver capable of operation over a wide frequency range, including the 433, 868 and 915 MHz license-free ISM (Industry Scientific and Medical) frequency bands." Which is a pretty fishy chip to be in a desk VOIP phone. Interesting that someone might have made a custom fit, nicely silkscreened and barcode part-labeled bug for one specific model of voip phone.
- grandinj 6y ago
  Unless that model was expected to also function as some kind of push-to-talk device on a local radio network.
- Fnoord 6y ago
  > Which is a pretty fishy chip to be in a desk VOIP phone. Interesting that someone might have made a custom fit, nicely silkscreened and barcode part-labeled bug for one specific model of voip phone. I would imagine these bugs are designed by hardware engineers (a high skill job due to uniqueness of such trait), but not necessarily assembled by the same engineers (a lower skill job which requires different qualities). So, for example, a 'TAO station' would not necessarily contain all those engineers who designed the bugs, but it would have technicians who can install/implement them.
- jimmyswimmy 6y ago
  Such a chip would enable the phone to act as a base station for a wireless headset. Snom make several varieties of such headsets. It is not necessarily proof of a "bug," could just be additional, perhaps never implemented, functionality for the phone.
  - tyingq 6y ago
    DECT is ~1800MHz, Bluetooth is 2450MHz and this model doesn't have any sort of built in wireless.
stordoff 6y ago
There are also five green wires running from the same board - it reminds me of an old console mod chip. It could be a patch job for a hardware bug, but it definitely looks odd.

by xvf22 6y ago

5th image bottom left you can see a little board with 3 black wires running off of it that doesn't look original. Could be a factory bodge but definitely looks a bit out of place.

tyingq 6y ago

Ah, thanks. Though the slides talk about, for example, the Spartan 6, which is on the larger board and seems factory looking. That white connector on the little tap board appears to plug into J4 on this board: http://buggedplanet.info/lost+found/20180323/Images/18.jpg http://buggedplanet.info/lost+found/20180323/Images/18.jpg So that larger board would have to be part of the conspiracy. It's the one with the 2 FPGAs, NAND memory, board trace antenna, etc. That board is obviously custom fit for this specific phone, with passthrough cutouts for the LCD ribbon cable, mounting screws, etc. Edit: Actually, I can make out a chip in the top left of that larger board linked above that says SX1231 on it, which is a Semtech UHF transceiver. The QFN24 packaging matches as well. Small excerpt from the data sheet: "The SX1231 is a highly integrated RF transceiver capable of operation over a wide frequency range, including the 433, 868 and 915 MHz license-free ISM (Industry Scientific and Medical) frequency bands." Which is a pretty fishy chip to be in a desk VOIP phone. Interesting that someone might have made a custom fit, nicely silkscreened and barcode part-labeled bug for one specific model of voip phone.

grandinj 6y ago
Unless that model was expected to also function as some kind of push-to-talk device on a local radio network.
Fnoord 6y ago
> Which is a pretty fishy chip to be in a desk VOIP phone. Interesting that someone might have made a custom fit, nicely silkscreened and barcode part-labeled bug for one specific model of voip phone. I would imagine these bugs are designed by hardware engineers (a high skill job due to uniqueness of such trait), but not necessarily assembled by the same engineers (a lower skill job which requires different qualities). So, for example, a 'TAO station' would not necessarily contain all those engineers who designed the bugs, but it would have technicians who can install/implement them.
jimmyswimmy 6y ago
Such a chip would enable the phone to act as a base station for a wireless headset. Snom make several varieties of such headsets. It is not necessarily proof of a "bug," could just be additional, perhaps never implemented, functionality for the phone.
- tyingq 6y ago
  DECT is ~1800MHz, Bluetooth is 2450MHz and this model doesn't have any sort of built in wireless.

stordoff 6y ago

There are also five green wires running from the same board - it reminds me of an old console mod chip. It could be a patch job for a hardware bug, but it definitely looks odd.