FLIR recently released a new line of thermal imagers, based on a line of sensors from what was their high-end cameras back in 2009. What they neglected to tell anybody is that all the cameras in the product line, from the lowest end ($995) E4 camera to the high-end ($5,995) E8 all share the same hardware and 320x240 60fps thermal sensor; they only differ in firmware.
Here's an example of deer as seen through a different FLIR model, just before the start of hunting season:
It didn't take long for hackers to notice the hardware features, edit the firmware, and turn a sub-$1K E4 into an E8.
FLIR has made minor software changes in attempt to stop the hacking, but as of March 2014, the most recent shipping firmware revision (v1.22) is still hackable
-----Update-----
As of December 2015, FLIR is shipping release 2.8.0 firmware, no hack is available for this firmware, but some users report success downgrading to 2.3.0 and then applying the hack.
Here's an example of deer as seen through a different FLIR model, just before the start of hunting season:
It didn't take long for hackers to notice the hardware features, edit the firmware, and turn a sub-$1K E4 into an E8.
FLIR has made minor software changes in attempt to stop the hacking, but as of March 2014, the most recent shipping firmware revision (v1.22) is still hackable
-----Update-----
As of December 2015, FLIR is shipping release 2.8.0 firmware, no hack is available for this firmware, but some users report success downgrading to 2.3.0 and then applying the hack.
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