The simple introduction of a USB drive onto a network by a user unaware of a virus installed during the manufacturing process is worrisome enough, once the user is really trying to compromise a system via a USB device it gets rather scary. Those USB’s using U3 autorun to appear as a CD-ROM can hold nasty secrets and keyloggers built with a photosensitive sensor could perform a variety of tasks based on the amount of illumination in a room.
Drop by Hack a Day for a look at the possible attacks you could face as well as some possible defence strategies.
"This very informative talk given at Shmoocon 2011 has been posted over at IronGeek. Covering all kinds of angles that a person could attack someones computer through the USB port, this should be read by anyone who is security minded at all. No matter which side of the port you tend to be on, this article has great information. They cover some common attack methods such as keyloggers and fake keyboards as well as some common methods of securing your system against them. We’ve actually seen this in the news a bit lately as people have been using the keyboard emulation method in conjunction with android phones to hack into systems."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- ASRock becomes the third-largest brand in motherboard industry in 2010 @ DigiTimes
- TSMC posts record 2010; plans US$7.8 billion in 2011 capex @ DigiTimes
- Sotiris Ioannidis of FORTH-ICS on using GPUs for intrusion detection @ The Inquirer
- Facebook turns on HTTPS to block WiFi hijacking @ Ars Technica
- Has AMD Finally Fixed Tearing With Its Linux Driver? @ Phoronix
- The Fast Enough Computer (Editorial) @ Benchmark Reviews
- NZXT Phantom Case Giveaway @ Overclockers.com
- TweakTown’s Aussie Flood Appeal Dream System – Donate and Win @ Tweaktown