Former student pleads guilty in "USB Killer" case

A few weeks old, from the Department of Justice website, comes the first mention I've heard of a "USB Killer" being used nefariously at scale:

Akuthota admitted that on February 14, 2019, he inserted a “USB Killer” device into 66 computers, as well as numerous computer monitors and computer-enhanced podiums, owned by the college in Albany.  The “USB Killer” device, when inserted into a computer’s USB port, sends a command causing the computer’s on-board capacitors to rapidly charge and then discharge repeatedly, thereby overloading and physically destroying the computer’s USB port and electrical system.

Akuthota admitted that he intentionally destroyed the computers, and recorded himself doing so using his iPhone, including making statements such as “I’m going to kill this guy” before inserting the USB Killer into a computer’s USB port.  Akuthota also admitted that his actions caused $58,471 in damage, and has agreed to pay restitution in that amount to the College.

This is the predominant threat model that came to mind when USB Killer Hype kicked in about a year and a half ago. That is, someone repeatedly using it to attack unattended computers. While USB Killer devices are no longer one-off devices, and they have achieved a sort of "commercial viability," the kind that look convincing enough for a random person to insert into their own PC cost more than $60 USD. That's a lot of cash to spend on potentially destroying devices belonging to a random person by just leaving it laying around. Cheaper ones that are chunky (or have no case at all, or have cases emblazoned with menacing logos) are easier to come by, but obviously look more suspicious.
This is a pretty "clean" way for someone to destroy a computer they have physical access to, but ultimately, "physical access is total access" as the saying goes.

Raspberry Pi Zero in a USB Hub (Part 1)

I've had this USB Hub kicking around for a while. I like it because it came with a good power supply and it can handle things like 1-Watt USB Wi-Fi adapters, RTL-SDR receivers and USB-powered hard drives with ease. It's small enough to stash in my backpack.

As powered hubs go, this one isn't anything spectacular.You can probably do something similar if you find the right hub.

This hub's case popped open easily with just a spudger and some fingernails. I took the circuit board out and found a spot to get 5VDC near the power input port. I soldered some wire to a pad, and another wire to ground. I attached these to the +5V and ground rails through the Raspberry Pi Zero's GPIO header (Pins 4 and 6 respectively)

Next, I cut some notches in the plastic case for HDMI and the USB OTG cable. I'd like to eventually wire the USB directly to the hub's board, but that'll be for part 2. For now, I need a hole in the case for USB. Everything lines up nicely.

I used electrical tape to insulate the bottom of the Pi, and the top of the USB ports inside.

Some 3M double-sided mounting tape holds everything in place. Sorry for the blurry shot. I didn't review some of these photos until everything was stuck back together.

With the cover snapped on, it almost looks like a normal USB hub. In fact, as pictured, it would still work like one, with a Raspberry Pi whirring away silently inside, hooked up to nothing other than power (which it can also get from USB without the DC power supply.)

I have a Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse and a USB WiFi adapter plugged in. This is pretty much the bare minimum to get a Pi onto the Internet and usable. 

Since I haven't gotten USB hooked up inside the case (I'll need some fine wire, a really good SMD soldering iron and a steady hand to attempt that), I still have to hook the Pi's USB OTG port on the front to the USB port on the back of the hub.

Not terribly elegant, but it works.

That's pretty much all there is to it.  Plug in the Mini-HDMI cable and the power supply and watch it go. You've got a computer that's better than anything I had in the early 2000s in something roughly the size of a pack of gum, and you'll have a decent number of USB ports to work with, too!

Baofeng Antenna Hacking

The infamous Baofeng. Specifically, I have the UV-5RA model. This is a lot of new hams' first handheld radio, and perhaps first radio period. I picked this one up because it was half the price of paying for a new battery to get my Yaesu VX-7R back on the air, and I had to get a reliable handheld radio quickly. I've had this one for about a year. I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a first radio unless you're really on a budget, but for what it is, I've been pretty happy with it. Lack of features compared to my Yaesu radios aside, my only complaints are that it poor intermod rejection, and the receive CTCSS squelch frequently fails to keep RF noise from coming through the speaker when there's not a real carrier there.

One thing that a lot of people complain about is the OEM antenna, but people complain about stock antennae on all handhelds. I stay pretty close to the repeaters I use frequently, so mine hadn't given me any problems until recently. A few weeks ago, I noticed that I had trouble picking up a repeater that's REALLY close during the weekly storm spotter net. Checking into these discussions weekly, even in the off-season, is one way to check that your equipment works. Mine wasn't. After testing everything else, the OEM antenna turned out to be the culprit. I cut it open to see what's inside. In my case, the wire going from the center SMA pin to the antenna coil had broken loose. You can see the antenna guts below.

I have a lot of antennae with male SMA connectors for my Yaesu handheld radios. A lot of these inexpensive Chinese radios (Baofeng included) use a female SMA antenna for whatever reason. Instead of coughing up $20-$40 at the local candy store for a new antenna that works with my Baofeng, I picked up an SMA coupler similar to one you can find at Radio Shack. It has flats on the sides, so I used a pair of needle nose pliers to screw it tightly into the Baofeng. You don't want to strip the coupler or the radio's connector, but it should be pretty snug there, so that it'll stay in the radio when you unscrew antennae from it. I had this Comet SMA-24 laying around, and chose to use it on the Baofeng. It comes with a rubber spacer, which comes in handy for this install. The new antenna fits on nicely with the addition of the spacer. Without it, a little section of the coupler shows through. The end result is that all my other HT antennae now work perfectly on this radio.

Alinco DJ-C1 Hack: Internal Speaker

The Alinco DJ-C1 was made in the 1990s and was a groundbreaking ham radio micro-transceiver about the thickness of an iPhone 4 and with a smaller footprint nearly identical to that of a credit card. It was designed to work on the 2m FM Voice band at 300mW. It featured an integrated microphone, but had no internal speaker from the factory; One had to rely on an earphone or an external speaker/microphone unit such as the one shown above.

Over time, these micro radios evolved. The DJ-C4 came out at the same time as the C1, and was made for 440 MHz (70cm FM Voice). The DJ-C5 was a bit thicker and was the first to have an integrated speaker and work on both of the above bands. The latest one, the DJ-C7, lacks resemblance to these tiny relics of the late 90s aside from being smallish.

You can still find these micro-handheld transcievers at hamfests, swap meets and online auctions. I got mine from a friend that's happened upon two C1s and a C4 in the past year. I was immediately somewhat frustrated by the lack of a built-in speaker. I opened it up and found plenty of room in the back for a piezoelectric element, similar to what you find as the alarm speaker in digital wrist watches.

I couldn't find anything to salvage a piezo speaker out of, so I coughed up a couple of bucks at Radio Shack for one. I used a tiny screwdriver to pry the back cover off and to pry the element out of the case.


Disassembly of the DJ-C1 initially looks pretty straight-forward. There are three small philips screws on the back which give you access to the battery and the back of the circuit board. You'll have to open the back up and you'll want to disconnect the battery before proceeding. Unfortunately, most of the stuff we need access to is on the other side of the circuit board. You can't get the board out from the back, so leave the screws through the circuitboard attached. To remove the front plate, carefully peel the sticker and membrane buttons off, then remove the three screws found underneath.


There aren't many places to pass wires from the back of the radio where the speaker will be to the front of the radio where they can attach to the solder pads for the audio jack, so I ran them between the legs of the transmit LED. With the front and back removed, you can slide the circuit board out of the rectangular plastic frame enough to get access to the solder pads with almost any kind of soldering iron. You can see the red and black wires here:


I taped the piezo element to the back case toward the bottom. The copper shield in the middle of the circuit board seen below will sit flush against the back case, so keep the speaker and wires clear of it. The piezo speaker is actually louder when it's taped to the back case than it is when it's hooked up to the audio jack by itself.


Gently re-assemble everything, making sure everything fits neatly inside. Re-position the speaker and wires as needed. I ended up placing a bit of tape inside to keep the speaker wires from getting in the way. Re-connect the battery, screw the front plate back on, re-attach the membrane buttons to the front, and test it before you button the thing back up.

The resulting speaker works, but isn't terribly loud. It's loud enough to get your attention from the office desk, and if you hold it up next to your ear, you can make out what's being said. This is all I expected from this hack. You'll want to hold on to that earphone or external speaker, though.

Here's some crappy cell phone video of it in action.

Guest post: Fonera Power-Over-Ethernet

Editor's notes:
This technique should be useful for short runs of ethernet (6' or less) and to power pretty much anything that needs 5VDC and doesn't require a lot of current. I've seen USB ports provide up to one amp of current, though it's usually advised to keep it under 500mW. If you have a dual-USB Power/Data cord like the ones that come with external 2.5" hard drives, I'd advise using that to help get more power to the Fon, but there are several people running USB power directly to the Fon, and it seems to work fine. This is the first time I've seen a POE injector/splitter used in combination with USB before. Pretty clever.

This is a guest post by cyb3rassasin, a student in the midwest that's interested in security technologies. You can follow him on Twitter.


Okay, so I’m sitting in the coffee shop with my LaFonera router in front of me, and my netbook on my lap. I look at my fon just sitting there with its 4 AA battery pack, pondering how else I could power this little guy. A battery pack is bulky, and I don’t really want to have to carry a wall wart with me everywhere I go.

So the options that come to mind are usb power, battery pack, and power over ethernet. The first two aren’t bad ideas but I was kinda looking for something a little more compact and cleaner. I decided to look at some PoE injectors/splitters because they’re inexpensive and compact.


The only problem I could forsee is again I’d have to carry a wall wart around with me. Then I thought why not cut the power adapter off the injector and replace it with a usb plug. It would be simple, clean, and I’d only have to have one cable running to the fon. The Fon can run from 5VDC just fine.

I decided to pick up a set of PoE cables from Passive PoE. I grabbed a usb cable from an old phone that I had, I chopped the end off and stripped all the wires. I then cut the power plug off of the injector and stripped the two wires. ( note: the copper is ground and the red is positive)


Now, don’t make the same mistake I did: put the heatshrink on the injector before soldering the usb plug and the injector together. I soldered up the connections, wrapped each individual connection in electrical tape, and heatshrunk it.




Before testing this with my fon, I thought it would be a good idea to make sure I got the polarity correct. I plugged the injector into my netbook, hooked up an ethernet cable, and then attached the splitter. I took a multi-meter and to the splitter and sure enough, I had the polarity right. Center pin: positive 5VDC, outer barrel: negative

Now it’s time to take a leap of faith and plug in my fon, and woot! It works!


So now I successfully have a compact way to power my fon via usb and PoE. I’ve found one downside to this, it drains my netbook battery faster than if I would use a battery pack. Other than that this is an effective alternative way to power the fon.



cyb3rassasin also showed me the Open-Mesh mini router, which seems to be nearly identical to the original Fon2100 shown here. Since the Fon2100 is no longer available new from the manufacturer, and the newer hardware isn't as friendly for things like Jasager/Karma, it's nice to know there is still a comparable piece of gear out there to take its place in our hackpacks. Long live evil wifi! Here are some photos he sent us, comparing the Open-Mesh and the Fon2100.

Flyback transformers and CRT discharge. OF DEATH.

Last week, our friend Mike was attempting to power an ionocraft with the flyback transformer from an old 15" Gateway CRT. There was a bit of fear (or overdeserved respect) for the high voltage source. I gave a little quick lesson on how to discharge the CRT before diving into the project, but I figured it deserved a little more detail, and that you guys would at least find it interesting.

While it's true that you wouldn't want to simply grasp the exposed anode and yank it off of the CRT, it seems there's a lot of misinformation and urban legends around flyback coils, CRT discharge, and sudden death. People make it sound like you'll surely shatter the monitor if you don't electrocute yourself first. Legend has it that CRTs are fragile, and one false step can turn them into a deadly fragmentary grenade.

First, let me state that the "shock" factor of a monitor or CRT comes mostly from the fact that the CRT itself acts as a giant capacitor. A capacitor is simply two conductors separated by a dielectric. It so happens that the mesh grid, thick glass, and other energized components in a CRT make a pretty good capacitor which can hold a charge for a long time, even when it's not powered on. That part is NOT a myth.

Even if you do get bitten (I've been, only once, and yes, it hurt), the chances of a lethal electrocution are slim to none, so long as you're not touching an ENERGIZED HV coil, such as if the power supply for the monitor or TV is turned on.

As for the "explosion" or "implosion" hazard of CRT monitors? All modern monitors are designed with a mesh or metal layer inside that keeps the CRT from rapidly failing. Frogman and I have tried breaking many CRTs of various sizes and we've never seen any spectacular failures before. The glass is very thick, and you're most likely to break the little vacuum seal nub at the CRT's tail, or shatter the narrow neck than any thing else. It'll simply hiss and be done with. It's pretty boring, really. It's not a bad idea to wear safety glasses when handling a CRT, though. They're made of glass, which can chip even if the hazard of implosion is virtually nil.

Still, one should remain careful when handling CRTs or otherwise poking around inside devices that use high voltage transformers. As always, we can't be held responsible for your mishaps, and a live flyback transformer is nothing to treat lightly. Some can put out tens of thousands of volts, and most aren't current-regulated. They can cause harm.

I'll use my Mac SE/30 (the Blackintosh) for an example of how to safely discharge a CRT. First, you want to make sure it's unplugged and powered off before you even open it.

On the left, the large suction cup device is the anode. It runs back to the high voltage flyback transformer seen toward the upper right of the photo. This Mac hasn't been powered on in a few months, but the CRT may still hold a capacitive charge. The HV transformer in this model might put out 10kV when energized, but only a fraction of that charge, if any, may remain in the CRT itself.

The way to discharge it is to take a jumper wire, attach one end to a metal screwdriver with a well-insulated handle, the other end to the chassis ground of the monitor. You can do this with an alligator-clip jumper wire, or just grab any old wire you have, strip the ends, and make sure it's connected to the chassis and to the metal screwdriver shaft.

Gently pry up the edge of the cup.

Pry up until you can see the anode plugged into the body of the CRT.

And then, make sure the screwdriver touches the anode. You're done.

If you must remove the anode, you can keep using the screwdriver to pop the anode out of the CRT housing. At this point, you can touch the anode, the flyback transformer and the CRT without fear of being zapped. Of course, I wouldn't recommend intentionally touching the HV gear unless you absolutely must (for instance, to replace a damaged CRT or flyback transformer). As a matter of practice, you should just leave the HV stuff alone if you don't have a good reason to be working on it. It's pretty well insulated in newer monitors and TV sets and shouldn't cause you much problem.

It's common practice to re-ground the HV anode if you're tinkering with high voltage experiments such as CCCKC's ionocraft. It's not really a requirement though. Chances are, the energy stored between the corona wire and the ground skirt of the ionocraft isn't even noticeable, but better safe than sorry.

Cyber Monday? How about MAKE some gifts?

This year, I'm planning on building as many gifts as I can. This is why I was so frustrated with Radio Shack earlier this month. So far, I've got three gifts almost completed, all of which are electronic. I start with an experimenter breadboard like the one shown*, then go bananas. Once I have something working the way I like it, I solder it to perfboard.

There are tons of great ideas in books and online. You can always find cool things to assemble yourself at Evil Mad Science, The Maker Shed, Sparkfun or LadyAda.

If you can't solder or don't quite grok electronics, you can try crafts such as woodworking, cooking, leather working, knitting/sewing, or anything else that you put your time, knowledge and heart into. Chances are, it'll mean more to the recipient than a gift card, some clothes, or whatever device you happen to burn your cash on. Maybe donate some of the grip you save to help save lives? Several initiatives are out there to provide clean, drinkable water to those in need. There's local emergency response and hardship relief, hope for cancer patients and a host of other organizations worthy of your help this season.

How about less consumerism and more love? Get excited and make things!

* The circuit on the breadboard is completely bogus. Sorry, peeps. No clues until December 25th!

Hey Radio Shack. It's us, the makers.

Do you remember in the 80s and 90s, when half of your stores' real-estate was dedicated to sliding pegboards of myriad components 3 layers deep, Engineer's (Mini) Notebooks by Forrest M. Mims III, genuinely good electronics experimenter kits, prototyping breadboards (not these) and Tandy/Archer/Heath-branded customer-soldered kits that were genuinely useful?

We want it back. You see, DIY electronics is en vogue again. Guitarists are excited about their stomp boxes. Teenagers are building awesome robots that are more than just cheap plastic toys. The economy is fostering a serious DIY revolution. People are going on MakeCations (staying at home, making things) or doing weekend projects instead of weekend road trips. We are once again learning how to fix our ailing gadgets rather than chucking them into the garbage, and looking for ways to make our own simple and useful electronic gizmos and toys instead of buying them. It's cheaper and a lot more fun. Building and fixing things yourself instills a sense of joy. Who doesn't LOVE a sense of joy!?

Just as the old-school PIC gave way to the easier-to-use BASIC Stamp, the electronics deities have given us the Parallax Propeller and Atmel AVR Microcontrollers, and the easier-to-use pre-packaged versions: SPIN Stamp and Arduino. There are literally thousands of well-documented and useful projects out there for budding electronics engineers and computer scientists, yet we no longer have a good, local source for discrete components to help us finish these projects. That used to be you, Radio Shack, but you've lost your way.

Last night, I was horribly saddened at what your component selection has become: a dozen drawers or so containing only two or three of the most popular values of components, and only a lone 555 timer hanging out with a few different SCRs and op-amps in the IC bin.

We are the makers. We are many. Hear our plea: Lose some of the chintzy, easily-broken children's toys and pare down (or get rid of) your selection of overpriced and useless home theater junk. Other stores do consumer electronics much better than you can with your small, shack-like storefronts. Bring back the big sliding racks full of components, chips, and kits. Bring back the spring-jumpered crystal radios and projects that kids can build with their parents. Bring back the shelf full of electronics project books and experimenter kits. Bring us Arduinos, SPIN Stamps, stepper motors, servos and robotics platforms.

You were once our hyper-local, affordable source for all kinds of DIY electronics hackery. We liked that. We do not like having to beg all of our friends to go in with us on a huge order from the all-encompassing catalog companies.

Also, a bit of a shout out: here in Kansas City, we do have the HMS Beagle store and Electronics Supply. Unfortunately, they lack the ubiquity and convenience of Radio Shack and they still have to special order a lot of things. Mostly, I'm just being a ranty retro-grouch as usual. I'd really like to see "The Shack" return to its roots. The things they currently do, they're doing poorly, and there's a huge niche left behind by their old business model that I feel would probably thrive quite well. I hoarked over $1.49 each last night -- happily, I might add -- for a pair of LM386 Op-Amps. I'm betting Radio Shack made 700% profit on each of them, at minimum.

Ganz Dome Security Camera Refurb

One of the things I found in the dumpster at the same time as the Schlage/Recognition Systems Handkey II was a Ganz ZC-D5212NHA security camera. It was packed away neatly in its original box -- which was, as you can see -- labeled "BaD" - In other words "Fix Me, Please!"

The clear dome was still plastic wrapped as shown in the photo below. The box contained all the original stuff as well -- install cutting/drilling templates, mounting hardware and all that. Obviously, this camera was never installed.

You can see a capacitor that had broken from the backplane in the above photo. My best guess is that the installer broke it off accidentally while messing with the camera pivot, then discarded it.

This electronics repair task is pretty straight-forward. These are chip-base electrolytic capacitors with surface mount tabs instead of the more common through-hole electrolytic caps. Soldering this one back on was a little tricky because I had to take care not to overheat the capacitor. It was by no means impossible, though.

Once re-assembled, this camera works just like any of the other CCTV Cameras I've played with in the past. The monitor below is displaying the video feed (upside down) from the camera. It works fine and can go fish-eye wide-angle or up to 4x zoom. It also features a really crisp sensor that works very well in low-light conditions. Boots is wondering if his hijinks will be caught on video now.

I haven't completely decided what I'll do with this one yet. If CCCKC needs more security cameras, I'll probably donate this one. Otherwise, I'll probably sell it. I have plenty of security cameras around, and don't need any more. I could use the extra cash, though.

I decided I'd take the next step and clean up the box and re-package the camera like it was when it was new, just in case.

I don't have any dry-erase markers at home to do the permanent marker removal hack, but 91% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol should work fine in this case as well.

And just like that, it's as good as new. Retail value is about $230. Not a bad find.

RepRap

[Photo via Hack A Day]

I've been watching RepRap for a while.  I was reminded of it by a recent post on Hack A Day which focused on the new revision of the RepRap Motherboard. The project is self-described:

A universal constructor is a machine that can replicate itself and - in addition - make other industrial products. Such a machine would have a number of interesting characteristics, such as being subject to Darwinian evolution, increasing in number exponentially, and being extremely low-cost.

A rapid prototyper is a machine that can manufacture objects directly (usually, though not necessarily, in plastic) under the control of a computer.

The RepRap project is working towards creating a universal constructor by using rapid prototyping, and then giving the results away free under the GNU General Public Licence to allow other investigators to work on the same idea. We are trying to prove the hypothesis: Rapid prototyping and direct writing technologies are sufficiently versatile to allow them to be used to make a von Neumann Universal Constructor.

All good projects have a slogan, and the best have a slogan that reeks of hubris. RepRap is no exception. Our slogan is:

"Wealth without money..."

Impressive as the project and it's goals are, I personally find the miniature-advances in technology being made by the RepRap guys more inspiring than the RepRap itself. The Hack A Day post focused on the motherboard, which is based on the Sanguino platform. This new platform came out of RepRap's need for more functionality than the Arduino could deliver, and is a perfect example of hackers encountering a problem that would normally shut down or severely hinder a project. Then, not only did they find an intuitive way around it that was very useful for many other projects beyond the one that necessitated it, but they gave the solution back to the community as well.

That, my friends, is the spirit of the hacker.