NightPi Is a Raspberry Pi Briefcase Laptop for Pentesting and More

Information security, as a whole, is an extremely broad field. For infosec professionals or hobbyists, that means you need some specialized equipment at your disposal — and it usually needs to be portable. Most people just connect tools, like an SDR (Software-Defined Radio), to a laptop. But that equipment can get bulky quick, and you probably don’t actually need a lot of processing power. That’s why Sekhan’s NightPi Raspberry Pi briefcase is such a good idea.

The idea behind NightPi is straightforward: cram a Raspberry Pi, keyboard, display, battery, and specialized tools into a briefcase for portability. Sekhan designed NightPi for penetration testing, OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence), and radio exploration. You could, however, follow the same principles to build the portable rig that best suits your needs. In this case, Sekhan has installed Kali Linux with an offline documentation database, a Firefox browser with additional security, and a host of software tools including: Sherlock, GQRX, Twint, Photon, Keytap, and Exiftool.

On the hardware side, the NightPi has a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ with a 64GB micro SD card. That’s connected to an external hard drive, a portable display, a wired keyboard, and a battery pack for power. In addition, there is an RTL-SDR and an RFID module for hacking. All of that hardware is packed inside of a high-quality aluminum briefcase for protection. A fan inside is used to keep things cool, and there is even space for foldable headphones. If you’ve been looking for a purpose-built computer for portable infosec applications, the NightPi should provide some great inspiration.