The 'USB Killer' Has Been Mass Produced -- Available Online For About $50 (arstechnica.com)

New submitter npslider writes: The "USB Killer," a USB stick that fries almost everything that it is plugged into, has been mass produced -- available online for about $50. Ars Technica first wrote about this diabolical device that looks like a fairly humdrum memory stick a year ago. From the report: "The USB Killer is shockingly simple in its operation. As soon as you plug it in, a DC-to-DC converter starts drawing power from the host system and storing electricity in its bank of capacitors (the square-shaped components). When the capacitors reach a potential of -220V, the device dumps all of that electricity into the USB data lines, most likely frying whatever is on the other end. If the host doesn't just roll over and die, the USB stick does the charge-discharge process again and again until it sizzles. Since the USB Killer has gone on sale, it has been used to fry laptops (including an old ThinkPad and a brand new MacBook Pro), an Xbox One, the new Google Pixel phone, and some cars (infotainment units, rather than whole cars... for now). Notably, some devices fare better than others, and there's a range of possible outcomes -- the USB Killer doesn't just nuke everything completely." You can watch a video of EverythingApplePro using the USB Killer to fry a variety of electronic devices. It looks like the only real defense from the USB Killer is physically capping your ports.

Comments

Re:I am amazed that there is no current limiter

[willy_me]

That is basically what a protection diode is - except they do not use zener diodes. They have one diode connected to ground and one to VCC. If the voltage drops below ground, one diode conducts clamping the voltage to ~-0.7v. If the voltage increases beyond VCC, the other diode conducts and clamps the voltage at VCC+0.7v. This is effective when dissipating a small charge that could potentially be at a high voltage - think ESD. But if you have prolonged current the diode will blow and short.

So you have a short (blown diode) but you still have a significant amount of energy to dissipate. This results in a large current that will cause the diode to physically explode or possibly blow a trace. USB data lines typically use very thin traces and can not conduct much power. If a trace goes then USB is screwed but the rest of the computer will probably function correctly. If the diode explodes your protection is gone and the high voltage will now cause all sorts of damage.

Re:Beware public charging stations...

[mspohr]

Public charging ports don't have data lines... just power. The device would charge but have no data lines for the discharge.