Thinking about what gifts to get a hacker or IT pro for Christmas? It's quite difficult to choose something that is truly valuable in an industry that is often misunderstood.
For this reason, below you can find some of the most interesting gifts for hackers.
1. GHOST IN THE WIRES: MY ADVENTURES AS THE WORLD'S MOST WANTED HACKER – $14
Written by famed hacker Kevin Mitnick, Ghost in the Wires is an exploration of his social engineering exploits, his exploits with the FBI, his betrayals, and the lessons modern companies need to learn about IT and security.
2. WIFI PINEAPPLE – $200
WiFi Pineapple is a popular access point and Wi-Fi pentest tool that can be used to monitor and find devices that are misconfigured or vulnerable to attack. You can use Pineapple to perform Man-in-The-Middle (MiTM) attacks, obtain credentials, including WPA credentials in cap, hashcat, JTR, and plain formats. There is also a pocket size option.
3. TV-B-GONE – $20
The TV-B-Gone isn't a serious hacking tool, but it could provide a "naughty" hacker with a lot of entertainment. Once assembled and soldered together, the gadget can be used to prank others by turning off TVs via two narrow-beam IR LEDs and two wide-beam IR LEDs. Vulnerable TVs include those made by Acer, Fujitsu, Toshiba, and Sony, among many others.
An interesting option for Christmas gifts this year is a hacker puzzle. You specify the recipient's name and the message you want to send, and the team at Hacker.gifts creates a set of programming puzzles, one leading to the next, until that content is revealed. The puzzle is sent as a digital file that can be forwarded immediately or printed.
5. CIRCUIT PLAYGROUND EXPRESS – $25
The Circuit Playground Express could be a great gift for someone you know who's just starting out in the world of hacking. The circuit board can be used for JavaScript, CircuitPython, and Arduino programming, and it also has various features like LED lights, temperature sensors, buttons, and a mini speaker.
Suitable for storing fillers, Secret Santas and quite affordable, you can choose from a collection of IT and cybersecurity as well as hoodies for men, women and children at Zero Day Clothing.
7. ESSENTIALS FIELD KIT – $210
A valuable gift for a hacker, and something that can be considered an investment, is the Hak5 Essentials kit . It contains the Hak5 WiFi Pineapple NANO – the portable version of the larger Pineapple – USB Rubber Ducky, USB dongle for keystroke injections, LAN Turtle SD, a management system, penetration testing tool, guide and all the adapters and cables to operate the devices.
8. LADYADA'S ELECTRONICS TOOLKIT – $100
An option for hackers who are more electronically-loving, the Ladyada electronics kit is all you need to learn everything about electronics and soldering. The kit contains a variety of items and equipment including a soldering iron, stand, solder, wicks and braids, pliers, and cutters.
9. CANAKIT RASPBERRY PI 3 STARTER KIT – $75
The Raspberry Pi starter kit, developed by CanaKit, is a great educational gift this Christmas. The starter kit includes a Raspberry Pi 3 (RPi3) with a 1.2 GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a 32GB MicroSD card pre-installed with the NOOBS operating system, heatsinks, an HDMI cable, and a case.
10. STOCKING FILLER STICKERS – $10
An inexpensive stocking filler option is this collection of computer science and hacking themed stickers. The pack contains 72 pieces.
