The USB Kill Stick, Priced at $56, Is Designed To Destroy Laptops, PCs, TVs (zdnet.com)

There's a new USB Kill device in the market today which can destroy any device it touches. ZDNet reports: For just a few bucks, you can pick up a USB stick that destroys almost anything that it's plugged into. Laptops, PCs, televisions, photo booths -- you name it. Once a proof-of-concept, the pocket-sized USB stick now fits in any security tester's repertoire of tools and hacks, says the Hong Kong-based company that developed it. It works like this: when the USB Kill stick is plugged in, it rapidly charges its capacitors from the USB power supply, and then discharges -- all in a matter of seconds. On unprotected equipment, the device's makers say it will "instantly and permanently disable unprotected hardware." You might be forgiven for thinking, "Well, why exactly?" The lesson here is simple enough. If a device has an exposed USB port -- such as a copy machine or even an airline entertainment system -- it can be used and abused, not just by a hacker or malicious actor, but also electrical attacks.

Comments

Less malign devices

[phorm]

I wonder what other fun things you could do with a USB-charged capacitor, preferable things that don't cause actual damage.
How about a tiny speaker that plays in a loop
  "This idiot just plugged in a hacked USB device!"

Re:Turnabout is fair play

[OrangeTide]

what if my USB port detects kill sticks and sprays you with pepper spray and calls the police?

Re:So?

[Hotawa Hawk-eye]

Picture what would happen if on Election Day someone were to plug one of these into an electronic voting machine on which the election officials had accidentally left the USB port exposed. Fry the machine, quickly pocket the stick, call election officials over (or just walk away) and you've slowed voting at that polling place by reducing the number of machines, potentially forcing them to switch to paper ballots. Election officials might question why you're carrying a hammer with you into the voting booth; they're unlikely to ask you to turn out your pockets so they can inspect any USB drives you may be carrying, and a USB drive is easier to hide than a hammer.

Re:So?

[WolfgangVL]

Wait, full stop. Your saying when my shit is confiscated and used against my wishes in an un-intended application by an uninformed outside operator (read: not me) I am somehow liable when this not me person uses it wrong and asses up his own gear? What about my right to remain silent? What if its labeled PERSONAL?

What if I straight up TELL the border control agent -
"This thumbdrive is dangerous and will kill his computer, do not attempt to view the contents?"

This is a real honest question. No snark.

I love the idea of a nasty little red herring hiding in my personal private papers and effects.

Re:So?

[AmiMoJo]

I've been thinking about ways to make a self destructing USB flash drive for a while. Law enforcement always uses a dongle to block writes to the drive while they make a forensic image. Seems like you could program the drive controller to detect that (say more than 1MB read with no writes after power up, normally Windows will try to update the last access date) and self erase.