WHAT IS A USB KILLER?
A USB killer is nothing but a device that looks similar to a USB drive, whose sole purpose is to send high-voltage power surges to the device it is connected. But why? The manufacturers claim that it is used to test components for protection from power surges and electrostatic discharge.
But as it is with any modern-day technology it has a bad side. People who actually want to harm your computer can now easily do it, just stick the killer in and boom! Either you have a blown-up PC or a fried USB port.
WHY IS IT SO DANGEROUS?
Basically it’s a simple USB Stick we see every day. But from the inside there is a high voltage capacitor connected to it. How it works is when you connect it to a PC, it starts to draw power from it. After the capacitor becomes fully charged it releases all of that power into the USB port in a split second. This sudden surge of electricity results in the malfunction of the port and sometimes even the whole motherboard causing failure.
WHO INVENTED IT?
Before it was commercially made the USB Killer was first made by a Russian Computer Researcher with the alias Dark purple, that’s what some people believe. While some say it was made by a Hong-Kong based security team. Either way it is a threat if in the wrong hands. Similar homemade devices were also made by using camera flash parts which feature high voltage capacity.
Several incidents have occurred in which people used this to cause damages to computer systems.
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM A USB KILLER?
Well to be honest there is no convenient way to do that. The easiest way of doing this is by capping USB Drives. But this will prohibit all legitimate and harmless USB Drives as well.
The second easiest way is to spread awareness. Make everyone around you aware of this and to not insert unknown USB Drives into your system. This is probably your only defense against these infamous USB Killers.
Tell us in the comments what do you think about these little devils and also let us know if you’ve ever encountered one in real. And as always “Stay Healthy, Stay Happy”. PEACE 🙂
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