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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.
One interesting use I can think of is to simply carry one around in case you get arrested by the police.
Supposedly police require a warrant to search your personal papers such as your cell phone, so this shouldn't be much different. If they take the USB drive over to the cruiser and plug it in "just to see" then this will fry their system.
You can even tell the officer not to plug the device in, that it's not a thumb drive, and that there's no information on it.
It would probably work at airports as well.
I really don't see a downside to this.
I can just picture someone plugging one of these into one of those public charging kiosks at an airport. Wanna bet how well the ports are well isolated?
It would likely do nothing at all. It dumps the charge down the data lines, a charging port shouldn't have any data lines. Now, maybe the data lines ARE connected to something (so the TSA can search every phone that gets plugged in, "for your safety"), in that case maybe blowing the data lines would be a good thing overall.
Enigma
Talking to Taiwan sounds smart, if you're an idiot who doesn't have the most basic grasp of the nuanced dynamics at play. He'll do all the things people like you will think is bold, smart, independent, whatever - and predictable reactions from China will happen, just somewhat small but meaningful consequences. And people will keep wondering why they have to live in a world the way it is, not the way they think it should be. Much like the adage that there's no such thing as a stupid question, it sounds like a cool move emotionally, but in reality, leaders need to know how to tread.
"Old man yells at systemd"
"a charging port shouldn't have any data lines"
You're wrong. A useful USB charging port _must_ have connections to the data lines (see my post, above).
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law