3 ms·

Or if there is already a HID of that type installed and active, throw a huge warning. "I see you plugged in a keyboard USB device, but you already have a keybo

Or if there is already a HID of that type installed and active, throw a huge warning. "I see you plugged in a keyboard USB device, but you already have a keyboard installed. This may be a malicious attempt to take control of your computer by emulating a keyboard and sending keyboard presses to your computer from a USB device. Do you want to allow this? (recommended action is no)." No more security headaches and marketers will stop their stupid tricks when they get pissy emails from clients about "sending us viruses."

shabble 12y ago
My laptop has a USB keyboard (well, that's how it's presented, wiring is all internal), and I regularly connect an external USB keyboard to it. You might think you could identify it by manufacturer/model (VID/PID) or even serial number, but all those are easily modifiable by a serious attacker for a given target. It might make shotgun/blind attacks harder, but ultimately it wouldnt' be much more secure than MAC filtering on your network router. There are also plenty of non-keyboard HID types that could potentially generate unwanted input of this sort, although not quite as easily.
PeterisP 12y ago
Input devices are a bit painful on that regard. The computer can't detect if I have a working and available input device connected - the fact that some devices claim to be connected doesn't imply that, as it may be damaged, a virtual device, or not wirelessly connected but simply listening for a possible connection that may appear at any time. For example, right now I have a mouse and a keyboard connected, but Windows device manager somehow shows 5 keyboard devices and 4 mouse devices due to various connection drivers listening to devices that might be connected but currently are not. If I came home after a long vacation and found out that the batteries in them are dry, then there would still be multiple devices of the same type "available" when I'd try to connect a wired USB keyboard. If I want to connect an input device, it is quite possible that the only way that I could allow or disallow anything is through that device itself.

shabble 12y ago

My laptop has a USB keyboard (well, that's how it's presented, wiring is all internal), and I regularly connect an external USB keyboard to it. You might think you could identify it by manufacturer/model (VID/PID) or even serial number, but all those are easily modifiable by a serious attacker for a given target. It might make shotgun/blind attacks harder, but ultimately it wouldnt' be much more secure than MAC filtering on your network router. There are also plenty of non-keyboard HID types that could potentially generate unwanted input of this sort, although not quite as easily.

PeterisP 12y ago

Input devices are a bit painful on that regard. The computer can't detect if I have a working and available input device connected - the fact that some devices claim to be connected doesn't imply that, as it may be damaged, a virtual device, or not wirelessly connected but simply listening for a possible connection that may appear at any time. For example, right now I have a mouse and a keyboard connected, but Windows device manager somehow shows 5 keyboard devices and 4 mouse devices due to various connection drivers listening to devices that might be connected but currently are not. If I came home after a long vacation and found out that the batteries in them are dry, then there would still be multiple devices of the same type "available" when I'd try to connect a wired USB keyboard. If I want to connect an input device, it is quite possible that the only way that I could allow or disallow anything is through that device itself.