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USB Killer

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Re: USB Killer

#191

Post by jpindar »

ToastyMallows wrote: post #162
tripzilch wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno, making an innocent-looking object do something dangerous is "not cool" for non-technical items as well. Say you replace the contents of one of those bright-coloured sticky sweet liquors with a similarly-coloured cleaning fluid? Then leave it in your liquor cabinet, "to teach people to not touch your stuff". I'm not even sure that's legal. I once heard a story of someone storing their concentrated GHB (a drug…

Re: "If an intruder gets hurt, you're liable." IANAL This is called the Castle doctrine, and in the US it varies on a state-by-state basis. I'm not sure if it would cover "booby-traps" or not, since technically you are protecting yourself from an intruder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_doctrine#Practice_in_th...

That does not cover booby traps, which are illegal everywhere in the US AFAIK.

Re: USB Killer

#192

Post by jpindar »

leni536 wrote: post #95

Ouch. Not a traditional attack one would expect on a USB port. Would be there any practical protection against this (surge protector, fuse)?

You can buy isolated USB hubs.

Re: USB Killer

#193

Post by rwallace »

glandium wrote: post #47
vanontom wrote: post #4

This 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.

The problem is that a stick that you bought is something unknown.

In principle, nothing outside pure mathematics is certain. In practice, a USB stick you ordered from Amazon and just took out of its packaging is far less likely to carry a virus than one you just found lying around.

Re: USB Killer

#194

Post by cstross »

saganus wrote: post #173
cstross wrote: post #83

If you're feeling ornery,you could fly with one in your hand luggage. If the TSA or foreign equivalent border security want to scan your devices, it's their look-out.

And then you will probably be charged with trying to hack the U.S. Government and get like 1000 years of Guantanamo time. Jokes aside... it would be interesting to see what would happen if someone had such nerve.

Use a sharpie to draw a skull and crossbones on one side; on the other, write DANGER.

When they ask you to hand over all personal electronics, point to it and say "that's dangerous".

If, subsequently, they want to know why you were carrying it ... it was so you could fry the USB port of your own laptop if you thought someone had snuck some hardware-level malware into it.

If you tell them NOT TO DO IT and they go ahead and do it, I find it hard to see how a court could convict you of wilfully damaging their forensic equipment.

(To the extent there's any social engineering involved, it simply relies on the tendency of police to ignore or discount unsolicited information from members of the public who are under suspicion.)

Note that they won't be sticking the device in a laptop or desktop PC; specialist forensic imaging machines are used by law enforcement to duplicate data storage devices and maintain a legal chain of evidence. Oops.

Re: USB Killer

#195

Post by marssaxman »

DanBC wrote: post #155
rastapasta42 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>A colleague of mine purchases fresh laptops for when he goes overseas and then never uses them again. He doesn't even work in an industry where commercial secrets are common. I'd hope that anywhere that features security implications or commercial secrets would also act at this level. IMO that's an overkill. Why not just use ICloak [1] or Tails [2]? They are both Linux distributions which boot from USB stick without…

Customs officals are agents of another, sometimes hostile, power. If your risk assessment says you're worried about AoHPs then you can't trust your computer after they've had it in their possession.

What are "AoHPs"?

Re: USB Killer

#196

Post by ptaipale »

marssaxman wrote: post #195
DanBC wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Customs officals are agents of another, sometimes hostile, power. If your risk assessment says you're worried about AoHPs then you can't trust your computer after they've had it in their possession.

What are "AoHPs"?

Never heard the term, but by context I would guess "Attack on Hardware Platform" or some such.

Re: USB Killer

#197

Post by nalson »

13 wrote: post #12

I tried to do one better with a small flyback transformer. https://gfycat.com/GlaringGrimCondor Turns out there's not enough clearance in USB ports for tens of thousands of volts.

Could you share the circuit diagram? I am intrigued.

Re: USB Killer

#198

Post by Too »

blueskin_ wrote: post #88
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…

I think they're elegant. The cable points downwards rather than just outwards like most others (US/EU). They have a nice finished edge that's easy to grip rather than a moulded piece of angled plastic.

EU plugs also come in variants that point downwards, without sticking out 3 extra centimeters.

See http://www.netonnet.se/ItemImages/koppla-och-anslut/el/el-ka... and http://media.conrad.com/medias/global/ce/9000_9999/9400/9440... The first one there is the most common plug here actually.

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