HSBC Bank Security Dongle Teardown 

Thanks for this video. I have a similar Digipass it's about 3 yrs old now. A year ago when I powered it up I get 'batt 02'. 6 months ago I get 'batt 01' and now I am getting 'batt 00' so I assume the battery is almost done but it's still working fine. It seems from other videos once the battery is removed from PCB you lose info that is stored in volatile memory so the unit needs re programming. If I solder a new (bigger) 3V rechargeable battery in parallel do you think the unit will work indefinitely? subject to changing the rechargeable every so often. It won't look pretty but I can keep it in a drawer by my PC which is the only place I use it.

Dongles, invented by Don Gall, actually plugged into a computer that had expensive software in the early days such as Racal's PCB design software. These HSBC security devices are not Dongles, rather simple code generators. If the battery is removed, these will not start again unless re-initiated. A small group of us applied power by piercing the keyboard and sticking Pogo contacts in. We ran a sequence and managed to extract a complete number sequence.

I have three of these devices all from different banks. Two of the devices are interchangable so I can use say HSBC on Nat West. The third only works with the issueing bank and that has a battery you can change. I thought about sending you an RSA token as they are similar but have a code that changes every 60 seconds, no buttons just a counter. The software at the other end recognises any time drift a bit like the bank authenticators do.

Wish you had successfully revived it but thanks for the video anyways

Not even 4 minutes in and I could tell it would never work again. Pretty much as soon as the hacksaw blade made an appearance. The way the stanley knife was being used to take the back off made me tense.

Yes, go careful. We can't have you stabbing yourself in every video.

It's mesured 1.4v out of circuit because you've just recharged it

Is this not an Authenticator that gives you the passcode that you would enter into a application associated with HSBC.

Apps.. *shudders*

lets empty the bank

Not sure what are you trying to achieve there