I would like a version that has small GPS receiver and can sends SMS with location information when plugged in. It should works otherwise just like normal USB. (could be the size of USB HDD for example).
USB Killer
121–130 of 198 posts
Re: USB Killer
#122I understand the concept of the article, a USB device that will fry your laptop by charging and applying high voltage.
But I don't understand the excerpt about the guy writing number 129 on a USB stick and stuff. Why would he plug it in his laptop if he knew it would burn it? And if it was intential, aren't there easier ways to burn it? Thanks for explaining...
Re: USB Killer
#123I understand the concept of the article, a USB device that will fry your laptop by charging and applying high voltage. But I don't understand the excerpt about the guy writing number 129 on a USB stick and stuff. Why would he plug it in his laptop if he knew it would burn it? And if it was intential, aren't there easier ways to burn it? Thanks for explaining...
He didn't know. After it burnt his laptop, he decided to pass it on and make it easy for somebody to steal the key and burn their laptop.
Re: USB Killer
#124Someone joked that this would be useful to ensure people won't randomly plug USB drives into their computers. Sounds insane, except that... "During a stop-over in Hong Kong, he finds a spare USB key in his hotel room. Curious, he inserts it into his laptop. By the time he arrives in Australia, his computer is infected."[1] This was the one of the infection vectors for a large flare-up between the Chinese government a…
> Given the choice between frying an employee's USB / computer (small monetary loss)
That's a good way to start a fire and have a _large_ monetary loss on your hands.
Re: USB Killer
#125This is just one of many reasons why you should not ever stick unknown things in your healthy ports (or your healthy things in unknown ports). Not without protection. Safety first. But I'm a firm believer that people should be able to consent to this kind of behavior if they really wish to.
So how do we make it absolutely safe? Can a simple device be created that we can plug any USB into and simply receive an indication its safe and its capacity? How hard can this be?
I'd love something that protects against this, as well as BadUsb.
Re: USB Killer
#126Someone joked that this would be useful to ensure people won't randomly plug USB drives into their computers. Sounds insane, except that... "During a stop-over in Hong Kong, he finds a spare USB key in his hotel room. Curious, he inserts it into his laptop. By the time he arrives in Australia, his computer is infected."[1] This was the one of the infection vectors for a large flare-up between the Chinese government a…
Another option would be to just tell them and not play games with them.
Won't work.
If they can install they will and it will continue until someone starts firing people over it.
If they cannot install, prepare to get scolded when they cannot install fileshare clients, flash games, "codecs", -you name it: they'll install it if there is even the slightest chance it will let them watch something they wouldn't be able to watch without.
I sometimes have an image inside my head what it would be like if chefs would be like office workers in this regard: sharing their knives with friends and family, drag their knives into the garden, use them to poke in the sink, stir the paint etc.
Re: USB Killer
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
NEMA 5-20 is exactly that. It's somewhat less common, due to the fact that it implies a 20 amp supply. Most plugs and sockets use the 15 amp version.
Aussie plugs are more like NEMA 11 plugs: the prongs are angled to form two sides of a triangle.
You mean NEMA 10?[0] All I can dig up for NEMA 11 are motors.
Re: USB Killer
#128This reminds me of the Etherkiller page (sending 120 volt to various devices: NICs, HDDs...): http://www.fiftythree.org/etherkiller/
This gave me a really good chuckle.
Re: USB Killer
#129I understand the concept of the article, a USB device that will fry your laptop by charging and applying high voltage. But I don't understand the excerpt about the guy writing number 129 on a USB stick and stuff. Why would he plug it in his laptop if he knew it would burn it? And if it was intential, aren't there easier ways to burn it? Thanks for explaining...
He didn't know. After it burnt his laptop, he decided to pass it on and make it easy for somebody to steal the key and burn their laptop.
I see. Thanks!
Highly unlikely that 129 people in a row respond like that though...
More likely is that someone destroys the USB device in anger, dismantles it, is too shocked to do anything, doesn't interpret the number as a counter, or doesn't want to ruin other people's computer. And, of course, that many people in a row stealing a USB device from a backpack is already unlikely in itself.
Re: USB Killer
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Sounds like a way to increase security awareness. Although, I suppose a huge blaring alarm might do just as well. Leave them around your office/parking lot and see who uses them. Then have a chat. Better they plug in a bad device you control vs one carrying a truly malicious payload. (Probably a good idea to attempt to phish employees, too.)
Using a usb rubber ducky to take over their computer and write an email to yourself, saying something to the effect that "I was stupid and plugged a random usb key into my work machine" would be much better.
I'd wager that in the US, that would actually be a bigger crime than merely burning out a computer.