10 Stocking Stuffers for Security Geeks
Check out our list of gifts with a big impact for hackers and other techie security professionals.
November 22, 2021
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Candy is sweet, but to a cybersecurity professional, gadgets and gear can be even sweeter. Whether you're shopping for a breaker, maker, hacker, or plain old techie tinkerer, these are a few ideas to round out their stocking goodie haul. These small items also make for great Secret Santa gifts, office party white elephant exchange items, or Hanukkah tchotchkes.
We picked a small gift selection with pricing choices from sub-$10 grab-bag items up through co-worker-appropriate gifts under $45.
Read on to see our picks for the 2021 holiday season.
Less hassle than Velcro cable ties, these rubberized, bendy twist ties are a flexible choice for bundling, organizing, and routing a wide range of cords and cables. It's an excellent add-on gift or simple stocking stuffer for hackers whose cable boxes are spilling out onto their workshop or office floor.
From $5.75 (two-pack at Amazon) at time of writing.
A utilitarian choice but one likely to be well-received by those who like to hack hardware, be it modifying embedded devices or tinkering with a range of circuit boards. This silicone mat is nonconductive, anti-stick, and resistant to corrosion, glues, and adhesives. It also has grooves to hold screws and soldering accessories steady while working on projects.
$9.95 (at Adafruit.com) at time of writing.
Sugru is a tinkerer’s workhorse. This nontoxic adhesive is easily moldable and turns to rubber for fixing, mounting, sealing, or reinforcing a range of items, including cords and small devices. No hacker will turn their nose up at a few extra packs of these — they'll just wish they got more.
From $8.79 (three-pack at Amazon) at time of writing.
Gives hackers an easy way to store every kind of USB dongle, cord, and even USB drive necessary for quick access while on the road or mid-penetration test. This bag is durable, waterproof, and unlike some travel rolls that only have loops, it includes a small zippered enclosure to hold smaller odds-and-ends like Micro SD cards. These are typically $20 but are more than half off at Amazon at the time of writing.
$8.99 (at Amazon) at time of writing.
Hackers seeking to up their game with specialized DIY pen-test hardware will always find a soldering kit handy to help them complete their electronics projects. This 21-piece kit includes an iron, five different tips, a soldering stand and holder, desoldering pump, tweezers, a roll of soldering wire, plus a number of other extras and a bag to hold it all.
$16.99 (at Amazon) at time of writing.
Crypto enthusiasts will get a kick out of this secret decoder ring, a classier send-up of the old plastic rings you used to be able to dig out from cereal boxes back in the day. It's a fun, thoughtful find for those code breakers out there who are young at heart. Can especially be fun if given in duplicate to a parent and child or siblings.
$17 (at Uncommon Goods) at time of writing.
Electronic device manufacturers are often no friends to hackers who like break into their devices to tinker and repair. We can't help you with an anti-repair law, but this gift suggestion at least aids those who are trying to get around those pesky tiny screws with endlessly obscure screwheads. It comes with 58 different kinds of bits, along with pinchettes with resistive ESD coating, an anti-static wrist strap, and a convenient carry bag.
$20.95 (at Amazon) at time of writing.
No penetration tester can have too many lockpicking sets, and this one is a good one for novelty and stealth reasons. It packs a nice selection of picks and a tension wrench into a pen-shaped form factor to provide maximum portability and surreptitiousness.
$24.95 (at Lockpicks.com) at time of writing.
This feather-small development board is a tiny workhorse for hackers who'd like to dabble in Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) projects. It’s an all-in-one Adruino-compatible + BTLE board that includes built-in USB and battery charging. The board can transparently transmit data back and forth from iOS or Android devices and can be controlled using the Bluefruit iOS or Android apps, or customized with DIY programming via UART connection.
$29.95 (at Adafruit.com) at time of writing.
What could be more fun that unlocking a device, controlling a circuit board, or launching apps with the wave of a hand? This ring looks pretty and comes with an RFID/NFC transponder embedded in it. It has 144 bites of read/write memory that can be used to store a range of RFID/NFC tags that can be read by any RFID/NFC reader with ISO 14443-3A MiFare Ultralight/NTAG support.
$44.95 (at AdaFruit.com) at time of writing.
What could be more fun that unlocking a device, controlling a circuit board, or launching apps with the wave of a hand? This ring looks pretty and comes with an RFID/NFC transponder embedded in it. It has 144 bites of read/write memory that can be used to store a range of RFID/NFC tags that can be read by any RFID/NFC reader with ISO 14443-3A MiFare Ultralight/NTAG support.
$44.95 (at AdaFruit.com) at time of writing.
Candy is sweet, but to a cybersecurity professional, gadgets and gear can be even sweeter. Whether you're shopping for a breaker, maker, hacker, or plain old techie tinkerer, these are a few ideas to round out their stocking goodie haul. These small items also make for great Secret Santa gifts, office party white elephant exchange items, or Hanukkah tchotchkes.
We picked a small gift selection with pricing choices from sub-$10 grab-bag items up through co-worker-appropriate gifts under $45.
Read on to see our picks for the 2021 holiday season.
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