USB sticks or thumb or pen drives are practical devices for sharing files, but they can be dangerous as well. Most people will plug any USB stick they are given into their computer without asking questions. They simply have no idea of the risks they are taking.

The most common risk is, of course, a pen drive contaminated by one or more computer viruses. Antivirus software protects somewhat against such threads, but it doesn’t protect against another kind of malicious thumb drives: the so-called USB killer sticks.

Unboxing the USB Killer

A USB killer stick looks like a normal USB stick (or thumb or pen drive), but instead of containing files and computer viruses, it contains malicious electronic circuitry. Such a stick tries to destroy the USB port or even the computer it is plugged into by injecting high voltages.

In this video, we have a close look at a USB killer stick that can be bought online without surfing the Dark Net. What does it look like? What does it do? And, more interestingly, how does it work?
 

More information on Arduino

Elektor has published many articles about USB-related topics, below are a few. To find them all and never miss another article again, subscribe to the this tag.

Here are a few links you might find interesting: