New USB Kill 2.0 Thumb Drive Can Kill Your Laptop or PC in a Second

[Exterminator]

A Hong Kong company is selling a USB thumb drive called USB Kill 2.0 that can fry any computer it's plugged into by introducing a power surge via the USB port.

Last year, a device called USB Killer developed by a Russian hacker named Dark Purple made waves online because of its ability to destroy any computer the hacker wanted.

Now, a Hong Kong company that uses the same name, USB Killer, has launched a similar product called USB Kill 2.0, which is selling online for $49.95.

The company claims it developed the product for the sole purpose of allowing companies to test if their devices are vulnerable to USB power surge attacks.

The device also comes with a protection shield sold for $13.95 that allows users to test their devices without destroying them.

Removing this protection shield weaponizes the device, which will then be able to fry the devices it's being plugged into. The company says on its websites that it "strongly condems [sic] malicious use of its products."

The company launched USB Kill 2.0 on August 16, but its store is already out of stock.

According to its own set of tests, the company claims that 95 percent of all devices available on the market today are vulnerable to power surges introduced via the USB port.

The only devices not vulnerable to USB kill attacks are recent Macbook models, which optically isolate the data lines on the USB ports.

 

[Omnipotent]

I can see this being used in schools as a prank.

 

[Tony Cole]

They say that, but admit it can be used like a suicide pill to destroy the SSD to such an extent it wouldn't be worth trying to obtain data. Yes, lovely bullies wouldn't know what happened to their computers - essays all gone!

 

[Aura]

I can see this being used in schools as a prank.

If I was working as a school IT and saw a student do that, you can be sure that I would do everything to get him expelled and also pay for the computer/laptop they broke.

 

[Myriad]

As others have commented , this is not the first time this story has come up.

Personally , I am still not convinced .

Whenever there is this talk of a "surge" it just gets me thinking about the basic physics of the situation .
A surge of what , exactly ?

If it were a stored high-tension charge then it would be little different from a taser , or a photo-flash .

On the other hand , if the surge was of high current , I'd be thinking of a large mobile phone battery , at the very least.

And this could all be fitted into an innocent looking thumb-drive ?

I smell snake-oil .

 

[LASER_oneXM]

I can see this being used in schools as a prank.

...yes... killing mainboards and Laptops at school.... I also think that this will be a popular "fun" product......

 

[Tony Cole]

I cannot contain much voltage, it's so small - but its 200V, a taser is 50,000V and they are fairly small to delivery such power. Reminds me of my old Physics days, our teacher was excellent use to blow things up!

I was badly bullied at school, if it was around then I'd have blown all their computers up, bit of rough justice

 

[LASER_oneXM]

......quote from this article (with video) about how it works:

According to USBKill.com, a company based in Hong Kong that designed the device, USB Killer 2.0 works by collecting power from the USB power lines (5V, 1 - 3A) until it reaches ~ -240V. It then begins discharging its stored voltage multiple times per second.

The recharge/discharge cycle lasts as long as USB Killer 2.0 is connected to a USB port. Indeed, it will continue until it can't discharge any longer, that is, when the device has damaged its host's circuitry.

 

[Omnipotent]

I cannot contain much voltage, it's so small - but its 200V, a taser is 50,000V and they are fairly small to delivery such power. Reminds me of my old Physics days, our teacher was excellent use to blow things up!

I was badly bullied at school, if it was around then I'd have blown all their computers up, bit of rough justice

Sorry to hear that man. You don't see many nowadays, well not where i live since everybody is taught from a young age and schools are getting more smarter at dealing with it.

 

[DJ Panda]

They say that, but admit it can be used like a suicide pill to destroy the SSD to such an extent it wouldn't be worth trying to obtain data. Yes, lovely bullies wouldn't know what happened to their computers - essays all gone!

Thankfully every student at my school is given their own Chromebook. Everything is on the cloud.