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Comment by joshvm | Hacker News Reader

> I’m not even sure where the $200 comes from.

"With only a $150 hot-air soldering tool, a $40 microscope, and some $2 chips ordered online, Elkins was able to alter a Cisco firewall in a way that he says most IT admins likely wouldn't notice, yet would give a remote attacker deep control."

(I don't agree that $200 is realistic, but TFA does at least justify the number)

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You can do this with a 30USD soldering iron by eye. None of the other equipment is essential.

That is like saying <insert app here> only cost $99 to develop (cost of apple dev account). Or suxnet cost $2.50 (the cost of a cheap 2gb USB pen drive)

It ignore the labour, high level engineering and resources needed to execute a supply chain attack like this.

Right, so I’m not sure what the purpose of the cost estimate is. To show you don’t need expensive tools? If that’s the case, then 200USD is massive over-estimate. You only need a soldering iron, and the parts.

If you’re looking at the time costs, as I’d estimate this would take maybe a day or two. The time/human resource cost isn’t that right either.

But.. I’m just not sure what the point of the article is...

Where can I get a soldering microscope for $40?

Alibaba, you can get a digital one that comes with a small screen. They are absolute garbage to work with but will work for one off projects

You can get cheap USB microscopes that would work well enough

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