Or another article about how USB sticks are not actually our friends.
In 2013, a document published by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden showed how a modified USB device could transmit information from PCs even if they were physically disconnected from the internet or any other networks.
ArsTechnica write that now researchers have gone a little further: they have used ordinary USB devices as discrete transmitters that can transmit information from PCs not connected to any network.
It's USBee, a 100% software method that uses the electromagnetic emissions of the USB port into which a common USB stick or external HDD is plugged. The infected computer sends a data stream to this port, and the stick plugged into it emits electromagnetic waves that can be captured and decoded by a nearby receiver.
The solution was developed by researchers at Ben Gurion University in Israel and works on any USB 2.0 compatible storage device (stick). However, it does not work on certain USB cameras that do not receive bit streams from the infected computer.
USBee covers distances from 3 m when data is transmitted via a regular memory stick, up to 8.5 m when the USB device has a short cable (such as an external HDD) that acts as an antenna and extends the signal.
And so a compromised PC can transmit sensitive data even when it is not connected to the internet, WiFi, or Bluetooth.
Here is a lab demonstration:
So what do a skinny chef and a USB stick have in common? You shouldn't trust either of them.
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