Joe Grand is an American

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and hardware

hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who achieves goals and solves problems by non-standard means. The term has become associated in popular culture with a security hackersomeone with knowledge of bug (computing), bugs or exp ...

known in the hacker community as Kingpin. He achieved mainstream popularity after his appearance on '' Prototype This!'', a

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

television show. He specializes in reverse engineering and finding security flaws in hardware devices. Grand has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs regarding government and homeland computer security under his internet handle, Kingpin.

Early life and education

Grand became involved in electronics at the age of seven and later joined the Boston-based hacker group L0pht Heavy Industries. He gained a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

Computer Engineering Computer engineering (CE, CoE, or CpE) is a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software. It integrates several fields of electrical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science. Computer engi ...

from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. He has published two books and co-authored a number of books relating to hardware hacks and network security. He received an honorary Doctorate of Science in Technology from the University of Advancing Technology, Arizona.

Television

In 2007 and 2008, Grand and his three co-presenters (Mike North, Terry Sandin, and "Zoz" Brooks) filmed 13 episodes of '' Prototype This!'' which were aired later in 2008 and in early 2009. The show received positive reviews and ratings and Grand continues to host additional features and content on his site.

Business ventures

After his television appearance, Grand launched Grand Idea Studio, a San Francisco-based

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

firm. In 2009, Grand was a member of a team that demonstrated vulnerabilities in San Francisco's e-parking meters. He is also the sole proprietor of Kingpin Empire, an apparel project that gives back to the community through charitable donations. Other activities include exhibiting hardware as art in a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

gallery art exhibition titled ''When Electronics Become Art'' and designing the electronic badges for

DEFCON The defense readiness condition (DEFCON) is an alert state used by the United States Armed Forces. For security reasons, the U.S. military does not announce a DEFCON level to the public. The DEFCON system was developed by the Joint Chiefs of Sta ...

2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Grand also served as judge of the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...

's DEFCON badge hack contest, and as an instructor at DEFCON Kids. Grand remains an active member of the electronics engineering and security communities and is a regular guest speaker at international events, including the Black Hat USA conferences. In 2022 Grand used his hacking skills to recover 2 million dollars worth of Bitcoin from a Trezor hardware wallet for the owner who had lost their PIN.. In 2024 Grand recovered 3 million dollars with of Bitcoin for another person who had forgotten their password by exploiting a flaw in the RoboForm password manager.

References

External links

Grand Idea Studio websiteZombieTech InterviewJoe Grand Interview on The Amp Hour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grand, Joe 1975 births 21st-century American inventors American electrical engineers L0pht Living people Hackers