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Why? Sounds like a way to increase security awareness. Although, I suppose a huge blaring alarm might do just as well. Leave them around your office/parking lot

Why? Sounds like a way to increase security awareness. Although, I suppose a huge blaring alarm might do just as well. Leave them around your office/parking lot and see who uses them. Then have a chat. Better they plug in a bad device you control vs one carrying a truly malicious payload. (Probably a good idea to attempt to phish employees, too.)

lawnchair_larry 12y ago
Yeah, and randomly hitting people in the head with a bat is a great way to increase concussion awareness, right?
- aeykie 12y ago
  Deciding to put a stranger-USB device in your computer is a thing you do, and decided to do. Getting hit in the head with a bat isn't.
  - jen729w 12y ago
    "I'm not a lawyer" etc., but I'm pretty sure that, in many if not most nations with a broadly Western judicial system, the deliberate planting of this device with the intention of causing harm will be illegal. It doesn't matter if the poor fool plugs it in: you knew what would happen. Furthermore it's arguably true that you intended it to happen. Therefore, you're a dick and you're at fault.
- woof 12y ago
  No, but it's a great way to increase "don't stick your head where it shouldn't be" awareness!
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
semi-extrinsic 12y ago
Using a usb rubber ducky to take over their computer and write an email to yourself, saying something to the effect that "I was stupid and plugged a random usb key into my work machine" would be much better.
- pavel_lishin 12y ago
  I'd wager that in the US, that would actually be a bigger crime than merely burning out a computer.
ademarre 12y ago
> Better they plug in a bad device you control vs one carrying a truly malicious payload. In this case the bad device you control is a truly malicious payload whose damage can be measured in dollars.
vacri 12y ago
"Oh, look, someone lost a usb stick. Perhaps I can return it to them if I can identify something on it. Oh, it's just done over a thousand dollars damage to me, plus destroyed everything I have done on this computer". I've not found a lost USB stick, but I have found lost wallets and returned them. Thank god they weren't trapped because some dickhead thought it was a good way to 'teach the public in general a lesson'. Besides, pretty much anything can be characterised as "a way" to increase security awareness, up to and including murder of the victim. The victim's friends and family will be a lot more wary of whatever did the murder - the goal of 'security awareness' has been increased. But "a way" is not the same as "a good way".
lisper 12y ago
There are better ways to increase security awareness than to destroy people's computers.
tripzilch 12y ago
I dunno, making an innocent-looking object do something dangerous is "not cool" for non-technical items as well. Say you replace the contents of one of those bright-coloured sticky sweet liquors with a similarly-coloured cleaning fluid? Then leave it in your liquor cabinet, "to teach people to not touch your stuff". I'm not even sure that's legal. I once heard a story of someone storing their concentrated GHB (a drug, clear liquid), in a vodka bottle. If someone had accidentally poured themselves a shot of that, the consequences would have been pretty bad. On a similar note, I'm not sure about the US, but in the Netherlands, it's actually illegal to booby-trap your own home. If an intruder gets hurt, you're liable. I don't think this law exists to protect burglars, but instead it is to protect well-intentioned unlucky people from "accidents" caused by terrible and idiotic "security" measures. Makes me think about the car-alarm in Snow Crash, which delivered a fatal several thousand volts to whoever tried to open it without a key (or maybe it was a flame-thrower, I forgot).
- ToastyMallows 12y ago
  Re: "If an intruder gets hurt, you're liable." IANAL This is called the Castle doctrine, and in the US it varies on a state-by-state basis. I'm not sure if it would cover "booby-traps" or not, since technically you are protecting yourself from an intruder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_doctrine#Practice_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_doctrine#Practice_in_th...
  - jpindar 12y ago
    That does not cover booby traps, which are illegal everywhere in the US AFAIK.

lawnchair_larry 12y ago

Yeah, and randomly hitting people in the head with a bat is a great way to increase concussion awareness, right?

aeykie 12y ago
Deciding to put a stranger-USB device in your computer is a thing you do, and decided to do. Getting hit in the head with a bat isn't.
- jen729w 12y ago
  "I'm not a lawyer" etc., but I'm pretty sure that, in many if not most nations with a broadly Western judicial system, the deliberate planting of this device with the intention of causing harm will be illegal. It doesn't matter if the poor fool plugs it in: you knew what would happen. Furthermore it's arguably true that you intended it to happen. Therefore, you're a dick and you're at fault.
woof 12y ago
No, but it's a great way to increase "don't stick your head where it shouldn't be" awareness!
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

semi-extrinsic 12y ago

Using a usb rubber ducky to take over their computer and write an email to yourself, saying something to the effect that "I was stupid and plugged a random usb key into my work machine" would be much better.

pavel_lishin 12y ago
I'd wager that in the US, that would actually be a bigger crime than merely burning out a computer.

ademarre 12y ago

> Better they plug in a bad device you control vs one carrying a truly malicious payload. In this case the bad device you control is a truly malicious payload whose damage can be measured in dollars.

vacri 12y ago

"Oh, look, someone lost a usb stick. Perhaps I can return it to them if I can identify something on it. Oh, it's just done over a thousand dollars damage to me, plus destroyed everything I have done on this computer". I've not found a lost USB stick, but I have found lost wallets and returned them. Thank god they weren't trapped because some dickhead thought it was a good way to 'teach the public in general a lesson'. Besides, pretty much anything can be characterised as "a way" to increase security awareness, up to and including murder of the victim. The victim's friends and family will be a lot more wary of whatever did the murder - the goal of 'security awareness' has been increased. But "a way" is not the same as "a good way".

lisper 12y ago

There are better ways to increase security awareness than to destroy people's computers.

tripzilch 12y ago

I dunno, making an innocent-looking object do something dangerous is "not cool" for non-technical items as well. Say you replace the contents of one of those bright-coloured sticky sweet liquors with a similarly-coloured cleaning fluid? Then leave it in your liquor cabinet, "to teach people to not touch your stuff". I'm not even sure that's legal. I once heard a story of someone storing their concentrated GHB (a drug, clear liquid), in a vodka bottle. If someone had accidentally poured themselves a shot of that, the consequences would have been pretty bad. On a similar note, I'm not sure about the US, but in the Netherlands, it's actually illegal to booby-trap your own home. If an intruder gets hurt, you're liable. I don't think this law exists to protect burglars, but instead it is to protect well-intentioned unlucky people from "accidents" caused by terrible and idiotic "security" measures. Makes me think about the car-alarm in Snow Crash, which delivered a fatal several thousand volts to whoever tried to open it without a key (or maybe it was a flame-thrower, I forgot).

ToastyMallows 12y ago
Re: "If an intruder gets hurt, you're liable." IANAL This is called the Castle doctrine, and in the US it varies on a state-by-state basis. I'm not sure if it would cover "booby-traps" or not, since technically you are protecting yourself from an intruder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_doctrine#Practice_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_doctrine#Practice_in_th...
- jpindar 12y ago
  That does not cover booby traps, which are illegal everywhere in the US AFAIK.