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SamurottX t1_jd7qvf0 wrote

Never plug random USB sticks into your computer. This is also a common attack vector for malware. I've never seen this used for actual bombs but there are also usb killers that send high voltage to your device and damage it.

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AudibleNod OP t1_jd7sawe wrote

Working in IT, I've seen the malware trick a few times.

Fortunately it's never something cool or espionage-y. It's just a script kiddie doing it for kicks. Nevertheless, never plug an unknown USB device (not just storage) into your system. And please don't do it on your work computer. All the IT guys are going to laugh at you.

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dittybopper_05H t1_jd7z36c wrote

The USB killer thing was done at a college in my region a few years ago. Former student went through the computer labs and killed 66 computers, then bugged out to North Carolina. He was seen and identified using the surveillance cameras, though, and arrested, convicted, and sent to prison.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Saint-Rose-grad-gets-prison-for-using-USB-14304163.php

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salton t1_jd860jg wrote

66 killed pcs seems like a lot of effort.

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TazBaz t1_jd8gkek wrote

With a USB killer it’s pretty simple. 10 seconds per machine (I’m counting time moving between machines; it’s pretty much plug in, pop, unplug), you’re done in a couple minutes.

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cacophonic7 t1_jd8jqnk wrote

Yeah, but you have to factor in time spent flipping the stick over 3 or 4 times before you find the right direction.

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dittybopper_05H t1_jd8rnwt wrote

Must have been worth it to that guy.

They don't talk about a motive in the article, but he must have held some kind of a grudge against the college. That's not the kind of thing you randomly do just for a lark.

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DistortoiseLP t1_jd9xhra wrote

I have absolutely gone to school with the kind of kids that would spend that much time vandalizing that much property just because they felt like destroying something.

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MississippiJoel t1_jd8klai wrote

Yeah, it was the programming from the cloning technology that was primarily motivating him without him even realizing it.

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dfpw t1_jda84nn wrote

I'm annoyed at the description of the device "sends a command to destroy the motherboard". No it charges a capacitor in the USB drive that discharges into the machine

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BananaLumps t1_jdamis0 wrote

I was just about to say the same thing. Yeah that "command" is a ~240v charge that just fries the thing.

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dittybopper_05H t1_jdc9npk wrote

Remember this the next time you read an article about something with which you are not familiar.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/65213-briefly-stated-the-gell-mann-amnesia-effect-is-as-follows-you

​

>Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
>
>In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.

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apcolleen t1_jd9pj0o wrote

He took video of himself LOL https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/17/18412427/college-saint-rose-student-guilty-usb-killer-destroyed-computers

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dittybopper_05H t1_jdcakep wrote

It mentions that in the article I linked to. Saint Rose is in Albany, NY, so the Albany Times Union is a more local source than The Verge.

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apcolleen t1_jddimy2 wrote

There was a pay wall. I couldn't read the article you posted.

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Mummelpuffin t1_jd9phvv wrote

In high school, in my IT shop, we made flash drives with auto-run batch files that would open and close CD drives over and over again. It would keep making new instances of itself so you couldn't stop it by just closing the console window or anything. It was a fun way to prove how easy it is.

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fuzzusmaximus t1_jd8y85k wrote

Wait, you're nice enough to laugh at them? I have to struggle to resist the temptation to call them a fucking moron.

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technog2 t1_jd879h7 wrote

There's no virus that my McAfee Free Edition can't handle

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ERhyne t1_jd8i69p wrote

John McAfee's harem has entered the chat

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Boxthor t1_jd87rc9 wrote

I assume people like journalists and newspapers who take anonymous submissions have an airgapped machine for USB sticks

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ChasmDude t1_jd8tw7b wrote

It's in the interest of journalists and newspapers to have some kind of sandboxed machine, but I'd doubt any smart whistleblower would want to physically deliver a USB either in-person or via the mail. If said whistleblower is technically competent and thorough, then a multi-layed digital drop makes much more sense these days. Fewer points of failure and all of them are in your control as long as you can configure it yourself rather than using off-the-shelf means like Signal*

(* Not to say Signal isn't good for everyday use, but I wouldn't even want whistleblower-level info on my phone in the first place.)

/rant

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Divio42 t1_jd8w73q wrote

That would make entirely too much sense which is why I would never assume they are actually doing that.

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bigbangbilly t1_jd8ehwk wrote

Seems like the consequence for playing USB roulette escalated to Russian Roulette.

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