So I found one of these in my city. The Dead Drops homepage has a list of all known locations: https://deaddrops.com/. Took a while to find the exact spot, and when I plugged in... nothing. The drive was completely exposed to the elements without much protection, so it was rusty and as far as I could tell useless. I have a hunch that most of them suffered similar fates.
Dead Drops: what to do if you see a USB stick sticking out of a wall
51–58 of 58 posts
Re: Dead Drops: what to do if you see a USB stick sticking out of a wall
#52Not a good idea. This risks getting owned from the BadUSB exploit.
Since the BadUSB exploit is a MITM for data going through the USB interface, it's existence doesn't increase the risk. All the executable files could just be infected to start with.
It's pretty much the worst idea to execute random files you find in the street anyway so the risk probably isn't that high in the first place.
Re: Dead Drops: what to do if you see a USB stick sticking out of a wall
#53A more surreptitious spy would have a piece of hardware that can manipulate a USB drive without needing a full laptop. Any small USB host would do, from an old MP3 player to a Sony PSP.
As far as small USB hosts, an Android phone with a USB OTG cable would be a pretty nice way to connect to something like this and copy files back and forth. I don't think they're very vulnerable to most of the usual potential nastiness of a malicious USB device.
But no matter what sort of device you're using, it's pretty far from anything an actual spy might use. Any actual spy would want something discrete enough that you could be watched, videotaped, and photographed from multiple angles while making or picking up the drop, and even with endless analysis of the recordings, still have the security service not know that anything happened.
Some of Tom Clancy's books are pretty decent on realistic spy tradecraft, even if they're dicey on other subjects.
Re: Dead Drops: what to do if you see a USB stick sticking out of a wall
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is BadUSB possible with any USB stick? ( Or is this only a risk if a modified USB stick was installed in the first place?)
The firmware on a USB peripheral normally isn't write-protected, so it's possible to infect an existing stick.
Thank you, I always thought that one needs special hardware.
Re: Dead Drops: what to do if you see a USB stick sticking out of a wall
#55Not a good idea. This risks getting owned from the BadUSB exploit.
Unlikely and preventable, but I'd be more worried about water and other gack in the connector.
Re: Dead Drops: what to do if you see a USB stick sticking out of a wall
#56If I wanted to do something like this I'd create open WiFi access points called something like "DeadDrop". They wouldn't be connected to the internet. Instead they'd forward you to a locally hosted site that let you download and upload from local storage. WiFi has a lot of advantages. You eliminate the risk of USB attacks, physical damage to the device, and the actual location is unknown. The downside is that it woul…
Except it's a beacon that screams "Hey I'm over here" to everyone in a 90m radius.
That's why you set up a few dozen small radios as a neighborhood meshnet.
Re: Dead Drops: what to do if you see a USB stick sticking out of a wall
#57If I wanted to do something like this I'd create open WiFi access points called something like "DeadDrop". They wouldn't be connected to the internet. Instead they'd forward you to a locally hosted site that let you download and upload from local storage. WiFi has a lot of advantages. You eliminate the risk of USB attacks, physical damage to the device, and the actual location is unknown. The downside is that it woul…
I've often wondered about how much power it would take to run a wireless SD card (enough to be solar powered?) and how the software could be extended to allow uploads. http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=117&cp_id=11709&cs_id=... See previous commentary: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6195627
That's a pretty interesting idea. It would be easy to power them via solar. I couldn't find power specs for WiFi cards but it seems typical SD cards run on 3.3V up to 300mW, but newer high speed cards can draw up to 3W. A small panel could easily handle that.
Re: Dead Drops: what to do if you see a USB stick sticking out of a wall
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except it's a beacon that screams "Hey I'm over here" to everyone in a 90m radius.
That's why you set up a few dozen small radios as a neighborhood meshnet.
And then you have a few dozen small radios screaming, "Hey I'm over here" and a greater chance of being recorded when setting them up.