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USB Killer

kukuruku.co

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101–110 of 198 posts

Re: USB Killer

#101

Post by talideon »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #78
julian_t wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They definitely shouldn't be.... IANA electrician, but as far as I am aware UK regulations require separate power and lighting circuits and a proper distribution board with RCBs. And while our plugs may be clunky, I kind of prefer them to the wobbly, spark emitting two-pin plugs that I seem to come across in the US...

Obviously the US plugs are the worst, but thats the price for being the first. PAL was better than NTSC, too.

They needn't have been so bad: one small change--tilting the pins at an angle--and they could've been mechanically sound like Aussie ones.

Re: USB Killer

#102

Post by uptown »

Evil.

I've often wondered what percentage of those dirt-cheap UBS devices sold on eBay are actually trojan horses. Provide a basic functional USB hub at a cut-rate price, but exploit the access to your customer's PC for nefarious purposes. Seems like an easy crime to perpetrate.

Re: USB Killer

#103

Post by coldpie »

riffraff wrote: post #89
kissickas wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very safe theoretically, but in practice (with Malaysian UK-type plugs, full disclosure) I've seen people casually shove pens and even metal spoons in the ground to force the socket to accept their ungrounded laptop plug.

I have done that, when I was young and stupid and didn't have a UK compatible plug. I have also witnessed a many people doing it. You can also trick it by doing a sort of dance with te plug where you partially force in the ground, then one live, then you spin it and put the other one in. The day we have USB wall sockets can't come soon enough.

Eh, USB carries data, not just power. I don't trust any USB socket that I don't control.

Re: USB Killer

#104

Post by TeMPOraL »

witten wrote: post #11

I once encountered a computer that was the opposite of this; plug any USB device into it, and the device would never work again, even in another computer.

We had that recently with FTDI releasing driver update that would instantly brick any device using a counterfeit chip. Which means a lot of devices got bricked, as the manufacturers like to save money...

http://hackaday.com/2014/10/22/watch-that-windows-update-ftd...

Re: USB Killer

#105

Post by TeMPOraL »

derefr wrote: post #15

The worst suggestion in the world: make one of these look like one of those USB dead-drops.

I think it's the best idea ever. I mean, seriously, with all those USB-based attack vectors do anyone thinks plugging your computer to a random USB port sticking out of a wall is a good idea?

Re: USB Killer

#106

Post by ptaipale »

EliRivers wrote: post #85
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know Britons love their plugs, and I have never quite understood why. They look brutish, clunky and over-engineered. The opposite of elegant. The reason why they have fuses is so you can use ring circuits, which saves copper compared to the usual radial wiring. So its just about saving a little money. Everyone now gets to state his favourite plug type. Bring it on! Mine is the swiss Type J ( http://www.worldstandar…

Part of the niceness of the UK plug is that if you pull the cable right out of the housing, the internals disconnect in the safest order. The plug comparison sites I've found don't discuss the internals of the plugs much; does anyone know how other plug types approach this (or do they just ignore it)? Looking at plugs, I suspect that many get round this by making the housing of the plug much more firmly attached to t…

They don't ignore it; Schuko (CEE 7/3) plugs also keep earth connected while live and neutral pins are pulled out. Same is true for the French (CEE 7/5) and Danish (107-2-D1) designs.

Re: USB Killer

#108

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #51
philjohn wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're ugly as hell, and insanely painful if you tread on them, but UK plugs are a bastion of good engineering. Things like not being able to stick things into the line/neutral holes unless the ground pin (which is longer) is inserted make them very safe, and the plastic lower part of the line/neutral pins to stop you accidentally touching something that will have current running through it until the plug is safely…

I know Britons love their plugs, and I have never quite understood why. They look brutish, clunky and over-engineered. The opposite of elegant. The reason why they have fuses is so you can use ring circuits, which saves copper compared to the usual radial wiring. So its just about saving a little money. Everyone now gets to state his favourite plug type. Bring it on! Mine is the swiss Type J ( http://www.worldstandar…

Chinese win. Hands down. You can plug nearly anything in to them. http://imgur.com/dgT2mjk

Of course, there's no guarantee what your reward will be, and they maybe aren't the safest.

Re: USB Killer

#109

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #77
vertex-four wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone actually care that their plugs are elegant? In any case, your Type J is missing the fact that in the UK, the cables point down towards the floor rather than sticking out, keeping them flush with the wall and often allowing you to hide the plugs behind things.

> Does anyone actually care that their plugs are elegant? Some people do, I think its an expression of culture. Its hard not to notice that the swiss and the nordic countries (especially Sweden and Norway) value a certain aesthetics. This expresses itself in many things, ranging from architecture to product design, art and the design of public spaces. There is a reason swiss typography was big, and why nordic design…

Relevant example from Iceland http://www.choishine.com/port_projects/landsnet/iceland.html

Re: USB Killer

#110

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

coldpie wrote: post #103
riffraff wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have done that, when I was young and stupid and didn't have a UK compatible plug. I have also witnessed a many people doing it. You can also trick it by doing a sort of dance with te plug where you partially force in the ground, then one live, then you spin it and put the other one in. The day we have USB wall sockets can't come soon enough.

Eh, USB carries data, not just power. I don't trust any USB socket that I don't control.

Use a charge-only cable.
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