IT Security Stack Exchange
IT Security Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [usb]

an industry standard used for connecting to and powering peripheral devices (keyboards, mice, cameras, printers, external hard drives, etc) from a computer or other USB capable device.

USB, or Universal Serial Bus, is an industry standard used for connecting to and powering peripheral devices (keyboards, mice, cameras, printers, external hard drives, etc) from a computer or other USB capable device.

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Secure USB cable for charging in untrusted environments

On a long haul flight, I imagine that charging a phone (in flight mode) with the inbuilt USB port on the head rest would be a security risk. Could I mitigate that risk by taking a regular USB cable and cutting the data (but not the power) cables? Or…
DarcyThomas
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How can "USB stick" online identification possibly work?

My bank recently revamped its website, and it changed for the better as far as I’m concerned. Especially, security seems to have been dramatically enhanced. Most importantly, they introduced a rather unusual (I’ve never seen this before)…
user135452
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Can a stolen Android phone with USB debugging enabled have screen lock bypassed?

My Android (8.0) phone was pickpocketed from me yesterday. It was immediately turned off by the thief and when I tried to locate it using Find My Device it shows as offline. As a programmer and a security enthusiast, I started to worry about what…
gtbono
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How worried should I be about getting hacked with PoisonTap?

I just heard of PoisonTap today. Here is a short description from a TechCrunch article: PoisonTap connects to the USB port and announces itself not as a USB device, but an Ethernet interface. The computer, glad to switch over from battery-sucking…
Dennis Jaheruddin
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Allow only specific devices to be connected to USB

Suppose I have a Windows PC in a safe room, disconnected from the internet, with only 3 cables connecting to another room, to a mouse, monitor and keyboard. The computer contains highly sensitive data. The HDMI monitor cable is no problem, but the…
MarcG
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Am I at risk if I let someone charge their Android phone from my MacBook through a micro USB cable?

Someone connected their Android phone to my MacBook and it made me think if this has put my MacBook at risk. It was for 3 seconds and I was in control of the MacBook the whole time.
Emanuil Rusev
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How to prevent BadUSB attacks on Linux desktop?

What can I do to protect my Linux laptop from BadUSB attacks as described by ArsTechnica here? Perhaps writing an appropriate AppArmor profile would help?
student
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Force user to remove USB token

I'm looking at setting up secure laptops using BitLocker with pre-boot PIN and startup key. I'm wondering if there is a way to force the user, who is remote, to remove the USB with the startup key before they can log on or use Windows. Otherwise,…
IamNaN
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Why is Firewire a bigger threat than USB?

This question notes that a person briefly connected an Android device to an Apple computer via USB, and one comment indicates that it would "quite possibly" be a risk: In theory, yes, in practice, probably not. If it had been a Firewire device,…
Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
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Can a connected USB device read all data from the USB bus?

Is it possible for a (malicious) (hardware) USB device to access all the data that is transferred through the USB bus and then read/store this information, essentially sniffing all transferred data? Or is the USB bus switched and only sends data to…
user1049697
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Is it safe to use cheap USB data cables?

Websites like Amazon and eBay sell USB data cables for a pittance, often of unknown or dubious provenance. Should I be wary of using these cables to transfer data to or from my devices? Is it possible (and plausible) that they have a malicious…
Will Vousden
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Can malware be transmitted via a USB charger plugged into a wall socket?

I have a smart phone that I often plug into a wall socket for charging via a small adapter that rectifies the AC to DC power and transforms the voltage from line (120V or 240V) to 5 V DC, probably using a switching power supply. Standard stuff. I…
Stone True
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How to safely wipe a USB flash drive

I want to wipe all residual data left behind even after a format on a regular 64GB fash drive, the ones someone can scan and recover data. What's the most efficient but quickest way to do this? Any test software I can scan for those residual files…
LtMuffin
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Is disallowing write to USB actually an efficient way to prevent data leakage?

In my organization, a group policy exists that prevents users from writing data to a USB stick. This always seemed like a bit of a pointless PITA to me, just "one of those things...". I forget about it as often as not since I can download data from…
Peter Vandivier
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How to check if my USB stick firmware can be rewritten via the USB port?

How can I know in Linux (or otherwise), if the firmware of my USB flash drive can be rewritten using the USB port (when sticking it in an USB port)? Eg. for a cheap EMTEC 16GB. I was thinking about using udevadm monitor, but do not have any clue on…
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