Archive for October, 2015

Evil USB Stick To Destroy Computers

Thursday, October 15th, 2015

So some bright spark has created a USB stick that does nothing except fry your computer when you plug it in.

What’s the point? Unfortunately, some people are just idiots aren’t they.

It looks exactly like a USB stick and the maker has been leaving them in places where there are found. People then pick them up and being inquisitive plug them into their machines to see what’s on the stick. As soon as the device is plugged in though, it shots 220V through the computer, often killing it. This is because USB ports of made to work on 5V and are designed as such, so putting 220V through the port destroys the computer’s motherboard, and if you’re unlucky, other parts of it too such as the hard drive.

Read the full article as posted on The Register here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/14/sneaky_220v_usb_fries_laptops/