Slashdot Mirror
Student Used 'USB Killer' Device To Destroy $58,000 Worth of College Computers (theverge.com)
A former student of The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, has pled guilty to charges that he destroyed tens of thousands of dollars worth of campus computers using a USB device designed to instantly overwhelm and fry their circuitry. The plea was announced today by the Department of Justice, FBI, and Albany Police Department. The Verge reports: Vishwanath Akuthota, the former student, now faces up to 10 years in prison (with up to three years of supervision after release) and a fine totaling up to $250,000. He was arrested and taken into custody in North Carolina on February 22nd, just over a week after he went on a spree of inserting the "USB Killer" device into 66 of Saint Rose's computers around various locations on campus. Such devices can be easily and freely purchased online and can overload the surge protection in many PCs.
Akuthota, 27, apparently made video recordings of himself inserting the malicious USB device into the computers and said "I'm going to kill this guy" as the PCs were overloaded and permanently ruined. So it's fair to say the FBI and APD had all the evidence they needed. In total, Akuthota caused $58,471 worth of damage. As part of his guilty plea, he has agreed to pay back that amount to the college, a small private school in New York's capital city. The Verge reached out to The College of Saint Rose for a statement on today's news, but a spokesperson said the college had been asked by law enforcement to refrain from commenting.
Akuthota, 27, apparently made video recordings of himself inserting the malicious USB device into the computers and said "I'm going to kill this guy" as the PCs were overloaded and permanently ruined. So it's fair to say the FBI and APD had all the evidence they needed. In total, Akuthota caused $58,471 worth of damage. As part of his guilty plea, he has agreed to pay back that amount to the college, a small private school in New York's capital city. The Verge reached out to The College of Saint Rose for a statement on today's news, but a spokesperson said the college had been asked by law enforcement to refrain from commenting.
If you're going to do something stupid or better yet illegal, don't record yourself.
Here's a fun Q&A with him on FB: https://www.facebook.com/saint...
Sounds like he got fired and was looking for revenge! Curious what he did to deserve the firing.
For a lot of the people doing stuff like this, if they can't brag about the crime, there's no point doing it. It's not really anarchy or revenge that they seek. They're attention whores. They thrive on the publicity and praise/criticism they get. For them, pulling a stunt like this without recording it (and distributing the recording) is like the proverbial tree that falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear. In their minds, it's indistinguishable from the tree never falling / them never having committed the crime.
His confession (recording of the act) makes it unlikely prosecutors will make any deal of any kind. All his bargaining power is gone with that confession. They tend to throw the book at people when they have a confession. If he pleads guilty the Judge might have some sympathy, but if he fights it he'll get the full kit.
If he wrote that USB death stick software himself,
It's hardware. Basically a transformer that steps up the voltage, stores the charge in a capacitor then zaps the USB circuit and thus the motherboard with 200V or so.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.