Europe 2026
Reverse engineering a Viking VOIP phone protocol with Claude Code — Boris Starkov, Eleven Labs
Overview
This talk details the process of reverse-engineering a legacy Viking VOIP phone's protocol using Claude Code to enable connection with a modern conversational AI agent. The primary challenge was the phone's outdated Windows XP-compatible software, which posed setup difficulties for engineers using Mac operating systems. The solution involved leveraging Claude Code to discover communication ports, identify and brute-force two-letter command codes, and ultimately decipher a proprietary protocol, including a one-byte checksum encryption.
Who should watch
- AI Engineers
- Product Managers
- Builders working with legacy hardware
- Developers interested in agentic reverse-engineering
- Those facing hardware integration challenges with modern AI
Key takeaways
- Claude Code can be used for hardware reverse-engineering, not just software development.
- The Viking phone's protocol was undocumented and required iterative discovery and brute-forcing of commands.
- Initial attempts to configure the phone failed due to settings not persisting after reboots.
- A Windows virtual machine with a TCP proxy on the host OS was used to intercept and analyze communication between the phone's proprietary software and the hardware.
- The protocol utilized two-letter command codes, and a specific command with a binary payload was identified as key to persistence.
- The encryption was a simple one-byte checksum that Claude Code successfully reverse-engineered and confirmed.
- The process culminated in creating an open-source skill for Claude Code, allowing direct programming of the phone without needing the virtual machine setup.
- The speaker acted as the physical interface for Claude Code, executing its commands and providing sensory feedback.
Notable quotes
*Claude Code didn't just figure out what the format of the checksum is. It actually like managed to find it and then it confirmed it by running more values through it.*
*I was actually like the agent for Cloud. Like Cloud was orchestrating the whole thing.*
*The intellectual part which is like cracking the cracking the algorithm I could I wouldn't be able to unblock it. It was just smarter than me, I think.*
Unofficial community note. Prefer the recording for nuance.