Happy Hacker Holiday Gift Guide

By Ericka Chickowski

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the favorite hackers in your life? Whether their interests lie in building stuff, breaking stuff or (better yet) building cool stuff to break other stuff, the creativity of your fellow security researchers knows no bounds. Why not play right into that with some gifts that help your hacker friends pursue their passions?

Stocking Stuffers

$25 and under

Credit Card Lockpick Set
Cost: $9.99
A staple in any pen tester's tool box, this lockpick set is discrete and handy. Not much thicker than a typical credit card, it'll easily fit in the slimmest of wallets or purses.

Sugru
Cost: $11.99
Sugru is to tinkerers what screws and nails are to carpenters. They can never have enough. Use it for bonding, cushioning, molding parts and more. It's what you'd get if Silly Putty and epoxy had a love child together.

Opena iPhone Case
Cost: $10
Coffee may provide fuel for a lot of security work. But let's not fool ourselves, adult beverages play a part in loosening up creativity for a lot of researchers' late night sessions. This phone case ensures a bottle opener is always close at hand.

Gifts For Colleagues and Friends

$26-$100

Access Denied RFID Blocking Wallet
Cost: $26-$56
A healthy paranoia is a prerequisite for this career. Help foster it in your friends with no tin foil necessary. This brand offers a range of stylish RFID blocking wallets that comes in a good selection of colors and designs for women and men.

Cherry MX Mechanical Keyboard
Cost: $89
Nothing beats the responsive, clacky feedback of a mechanical keyboard. These tend to be expensive, so it's just the kind of gift that a frugal hacker would love but never buy for themselves.

Intel Compute Stick
Cost: $84.99-$99.99
The specs speak for themselves with this puppy: your choice of Win 8.1, 10 or Ubuntu loaded onto a system with quad-core Intel Atom processor, 2 GB of memory, 32 GB of on-board storage, integrated WiFi and Bluetooth a USB 2.0 port and Micro SD slot. All on a freakin' USB stick for under 100 smackers. Amazeballs.

For The Hackers You REALLY Love

DeviceLab
Cost: $149
Mobile developers and researchers will dig the convenience of this stand, which will help them keep their smartphone test bench organized and tidy. For another $20 you can also pick up a license for GhostLab, a testing tool meant to speed up work on different platforms.

Bare Conductive Touch Board Starter Kit
Cost: $145.50
For those inventive makers who really like a challenge, turn them on to the possibility of turning everyday objects into sensors&mdas;hit's the ultimate DIY Internet-of-YOUR-Things kit. Includes a touchboard, components and Bare Conductive's super cool electric paint, which can also be used to draw any nature of circuitry or repair PCBs.

Parrot AR Drone 2.0
Cost: $269
The hacking opportunities here are pretty epic. Pen tests will never be the same once your hacker gets some gadgets installed on one of these bad boys. Need inspiration? Check this out: http://samy.pl/skyjack/.

XYZprinting Davinci 3D Printer
Cost: $399
This is the gift for hackers who have made Santa's "Really Nice" list. Previously out of reach for a lot of people over the past few years, 3D printers are finally breaking the sub-$500 price barrier with models like this one.

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