You heard me! Presenting the all new USB Kill v2.0 that can basically destroy your computer device in a matter of seconds is here. This flash drive looks all like the regular Pen drives people use every day. But it’s powers are incomparable. This can render your computer or PC dead in a few seconds.
The USB Kill 2.0 was constructed last year by a Hong Kong Based Company. A Russian hacker named Dark Purple was known to be the first to create a prototype of the USB Kill.
The official site does not reveal the name of the company that created it but it recent reports reveals that the company is a Hong-Kong based one. The USB Killer was initially designed by Dark Purple for the security researchers that work on the USB standards. This could be used as something to protect their devices from any kind of high voltage attacks.
When the USB Kill is plugged into the USB slot, it sucks all the power through the USB lines. It then discharges over 200 V of power into the host device multiple times until the device is dead.
The USB Kill has been provisioned with small capacitors. As soon as the USB Kill is plugged, these capacitors start drawing the power into itself through the USB power source. Once they are completely charged, it starts discharging about 200-240 V of DC power into the host device. This is done multiple times until the computer is fried and dead. All of this is done in less than a second.
USB Kill works upon 95% customer devices except for Apple devices that have their hardware protected against such type of power surge attacks.
The USB Kill is not only limited to the computers or laptops. It can work on a TV, a fax machine or a smartphone that features USB plugging. Basically, the USB Kill can be used on any device with a USB slot.
The USB Kill was initially designed with a thought to spread awareness about the high voltage attack dangers and make companies change their hardware configurations to a safer one.
The USB Kill is now available on the internet at a price around $56 and can be used as a malicious device to render your PC dead. But it was initially designed with to spread awareness regarding the power attack surges through USBs and other sources. The companies need to change their hardware design in order to make them resistant to such attacks, like Apple.
After being infected by the USB Kill, the computer can still be restarted by replacing the motherboard. Data remains untouched and can be restored.
This could be a malicious device that kills your computer, but at least it stays away from any kind of data thefts. The USB Kill basically damages the circuitry of your device when it is repeatedly fried with the currents. However, the data and the hard drive still remains unharmed. All you need to do is replace the motherboard and back up all the data.
It can also be used along with a Test shield which is also released by the same company. It can be attached to the USB Kill and then it can be safely used.
This device is now on sale online. So, next time you insert an unknown USB device into your laptop, watch out!
