USBKill Transforms a Thumb Drive Into an "Anti-Forensic" Device

Posted by timothy on Tuesday May 5, 2015 @03:47AM from the content-scrambling-system dept.

Orome1 writes with a snippet from a report at net-security.org; a hacker going by Hephaestos has shared with the world a Python script that, when put on an USB thumb drive, turns the device in an effective kill switch for the computer to which it's plugged in. USBkill, as the programmer dubbed it, "waits for a change on your USB ports, then immediately kills your computer." The device would be useful "in case the police comes busting in, or steals your laptop from you when you are at a public library," Hephaestos explained.

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Re:The right way to do this: by Anonymous Coward · 2015-05-05 04:05 · Score: 0, Redundant

You're overestimating what this "kill switch" does.
To shut down the computer you pull out the USB stick.
That's it.
No killing.
No detecting forensics.
Just a shutdown switch.