USB devices can be used by hackers: researcher
They can load malicious software onto chips in keyboard, thumb-drive
[BOSTON] USB devices such as keyboards, thumb-drives and mice can be used to hack into personal computers in a potential new class of attacks that evade all known security protections, a top computer researcher has revealed.
Karsten Nohl, chief scientist with Berlin's SR Labs, noted that hackers could load malicious software onto tiny, low-cost computer chips that control functions of USB devices but which have no built-in shields against tampering with their code.
"You cannot tell where the virus came from. It is almost like a magic trick," said Mr Nohl, whose research firm is known for uncovering major flaws in mobile phone technology.
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Technology
Meta’s results are best viewed through rose-tinted AI glasses
'Harvesting data': Latin American AI startups transform farming
After long peace, Big Tech faces US antitrust reckoning
Tech’s cash crunch sees creditors turn ‘violent’ with one another
Tech millionaires chase billionaire tax shields with ‘swap fund’
Elon Musk’s Starlink profits are more elusive than investors think