USB Killer: Death penalty for your smartphones and computers?

USB Killer is a generic term for malicious USB drives that destroy the device they are plugged into. A James Bond gadget that was born in 2015, but which is becoming more and more democratized. You can now find them very easily on online stores for less than 30 €…

You probably know that USB keys are one of the main causes of contamination. Well, we will have to be even more vigilant because of the “USB Killer”. These particular keys, which can be found on the Net for a few tens of euros, are in fact formidable devices that can destroy the electronic components of the host system. By accumulating and then releasing a voltage stored on a capacitor, they destroy the motherboard, graphics card, hard drive, etc. On a television, a telephone or a media center the result will be the same. Yet another reason to be careful what you plug into your hardware…

Isn’t that illegal?

Sold on online merchant platforms, these USB keys are officially sold to “test” USB ports. On AliExpress, for example, you can see a warning “Do not use this key illegally or to harm those around you. » A wishful thinking, because who is going to buy a “USB Killer” to test the resistance of their own machine? Especially when you know that it is a capacitor that will accumulate 110 volts to release them all at once and fry everything in its path. There are even products with micro-USB or USB-C adapters to plug these devil’s contraptions into smartphones.

Don’t leave your device lying around and don’t plug anything unknown into your computer or smartphone!

NB: Be careful not to confuse a USB Killer with the key USB Kill which allows you to do pentests (computer intrusion test)