Weaponizing the Raspberry Pi – A Pocket-Sized Threat in Cybersecurity

David Bigger
Aug 4
3 min read

If you’ve ever sat through one of my cyber classes, you’ve probably heard me bring up Raspberry Pis when we start talking about real-world threats. I do it on purpose. These little $30-$60, if you can still find it for that price, computers never fail to grab the class’s attention—half the room’s curious, the other half’s mildly horrified. And for good reason.

This week, BleepingComputer dropped a perfect example of why we need to stop treating single-board computers like toys: someone literally tried to rob a bank with one.

Real-World Attack: Raspberry Pi + 4G + Bank Network = Bad Day

According to the article, hackers physically breached a bank’s branch in Europe and planted a Raspberry Pi 4 inside their internal network. The attackers rigged the Pi with a 4G modem, allowing it to exfiltrate data remotely without ever needing to reconnect to the building’s Wi-Fi or LAN. Their goal? Pull off an ATM heist by harvesting internal data to exploit or simulate ATM transactions externally.

Now here’s the kicker—they got caught before they could cash in. But the mere fact they almost succeeded tells you everything you need to know about the power of these pocket-sized devices [1].

So, Why Use a Raspberry Pi for Attacks?

Let’s break it down:

Size & Concealment: A Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is roughly the size of a deck of cards. Tuck it behind a server, drop it in a ceiling tile, or plug it into the back of a printer—good luck spotting it.
Low Power Requirements: A standard USB port can keep it running. No extra batteries, no suspicious wires.
Storage: With a 32GB or 64GB microSD card, you’ve got plenty of room for scripts, tools, logs, and exfiltrated data.
Connectivity: Add-ons like Wi-Fi adapters, Bluetooth, or in this case, a 4G LTE modem, give the Pi full external comms capability—like a sleeper agent phoning home.
Software Arsenal: Kali Linux runs just fine on a Pi. That means you’ve got Metasploit, Wireshark, Aircrack-ng, and more on standby. With some tweaking, you can even automate the Pi to scan, sniff, and exploit as soon as it powers on.

And the barrier to entry? Pretty low. A basic setup can be up and running in under 30 minutes with a handful of preloaded tools and a few lines of code.

Offensive Use Cases in Cybersecurity

This isn’t just theoretical—threat actors love these devices. Here’s what they’re doing:

Rogue APs: Deploy the Pi as a Wi-Fi honeypot to collect credentials or MiTM traffic.
Internal Recon: Scan internal IP ranges for vulnerable hosts or open shares.
Credential Harvesting: Plug into a live network and collect NetNTLM hashes with Responder.
Command & Control (C2): Use reverse shells or SSH tunnels to maintain remote access through firewalls and NAT.

If a threat actor gets physical access to your building, it doesn’t take a bulky laptop or a James Bond briefcase to cause serious damage anymore. A Pi and a plan is all they need.

But Let’s Be Fair—There’s a Flip Side

Raspberry Pis are also a fantastic tool for blue teams and ethical hackers:

Build a portable detection honeypot.
Use it as a low-cost packet sniffer or log forwarder in remote offices.
Train students in physical security awareness by simulating insider threats.

Like most tools in cyber—intent is everything.

Other Single-Board Systems Worth Watching

If you’re reading this and thinking, “Well damn, I’m gonna lock down every USB port in the building,” good. But remember: Raspberry Pis aren’t the only game in town.

Other small-board systems include:

Orange Pi – Similar to Raspberry Pi but with variants that include more cores, more RAM, and sometimes lower price points.
Banana Pi – Often used for networking projects due to their onboard SATA and Gigabit Ethernet support.
Odroid – High-performance SBCs, sometimes packing more punch than the Pi 4, especially for media or ML applications.
Intel NUC (not ARM-based but still small) – Powerful mini-PCs that can run full versions of Windows or Linux and easily blend into an office environment.

Each of these systems can be outfitted with similar toolsets, making them equally valuable—or dangerous—depending on whose hands they’re in.

Final Thoughts

We tend to picture cyber attackers as hoodie-wearing hackers slouched over glowing screens in dark basements. But more often than not, they’re just practical people using practical tools—and Raspberry Pis are damn practical. Easy to hide, easy to deploy, and easy to underestimate.

So if you’re not physically securing your spaces, segmenting your networks, and watching for unknown devices, you’re leaving the door wide open.

A Raspberry Pi might be a $35 computer, but in the wrong hands, it can cost millions.

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