{"id":44044,"date":"2014-08-01T10:28:08","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T16:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/01\/protecting-yourself-against-the-unprotectable.html"},"modified":"2014-08-03T16:47:34","modified_gmt":"2014-08-03T22:47:34","slug":"protecting-yourself-against-the-unprotectable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/01\/protecting-yourself-against-the-unprotectable.html","title":{"rendered":"Protecting yourself against the unprotectable"},"content":{"rendered":"
Most computer menaces can be fought by (a) proper use of technological protection (firewalls, anti-virus); and (b) good practices (not plugging into or connecting to or surfing to skanky-looking things at sketchy places).<\/p>\n

This particular threat is a lot more insidious. \u00a0Tech protection doesn't work; the exploit is in the firmware and behaves just like legitimate devices. \u00a0USB is meant<\/i> to work this way. \u00a0<\/p>\n

And good practices aren't much help, either, because USB is ubiquitous, and this could be a problem with anything — a thumb drive, a full-fledged USB storage device, a phone, a keyboard, a mouse, a charger, a charging station, a cable — pretty much anything<\/i> that plugs into your USB port could be rigged to use this exploit.<\/p>\n

So, ultimately, there's no defense, as things go now. Really. I mean, don't stop doing the things you do now (see (a) and (b)), but until someone comes up with a much more clever way of detecting things doing what they are supposed to be doing but for bad ends, there's not much to be done.<\/p>\n

And, yes, this is something that could be used most obviously by hackers or other miscreants of various sorts. It's also clearly something that could be done by a government, a corporation, or anyone else. Sleep tight!<\/p>\n

Reshared post from +Les Jenkins<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, this is very concerning indeed.\u00a0\ufeff<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n \n <\/div>\n

This thumbdrive hacks computers. \u201cBadUSB\u201d exploit makes devices turn \u201cevil\u201d<\/a>
\n Researchers devise stealthy attack that reprograms USB device firmware.\n <\/p>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most computer menaces can be fought by (a) proper use of technological protection (firewalls, anti-virus); and (b) good practices (not plugging into or connecting to or surfing to skanky-looking things at sketchy places). This particular threat is a lot more insidious. \u00a0Tech protection doesn't work; the exploit is in the firmware and behaves just like … Continue reading “Protecting yourself against the unprotectable”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-virii"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12517,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/04\/04\/now_in_usb.html","url_meta":{"origin":44044,"position":0},"title":"Now in USB!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 4-Apr-08 6:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"It seems everything is available these days powered by USB -- the little rectangular connection ports on your PC. Not only a communications channel to your printer and other peripherals,...","rel":"","context":"In "Hi-Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Hi-Tech","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/hi-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39881,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/12\/04\/and-the-cable-manufacturing-industry-rejoices.html","url_meta":{"origin":44044,"position":1},"title":"And the cable manufacturing industry rejoices","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 4-Dec-13 10:10am","format":false,"excerpt":"Because now everyone's going to have to replace all their current micro-USB cables.Though that might almost be worth it (at least after the transition) to get a USB cable that fits whichever way you plug it in.Reshared post from +Doug Dunfee Next generation USB connector will finally be reversible Called\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13136,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/07\/12\/drive_letter_assignment_w.html","url_meta":{"origin":44044,"position":2},"title":"Drive letter assignment woes","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 12-Jul-08 11:28am","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of days ago, the drive letter assigned to my external USB 100Gb drive decided to change from E: to F:. Once upon a time that would have been...","rel":"","context":"In "My Computer"","block_context":{"text":"My Computer","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/my-computer"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27120,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/15\/new-computer-migration-status-update-1.html","url_meta":{"origin":44044,"position":3},"title":"New Computer Migration, Status Update #1","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 15-Mar-12 11:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"My shiny* new Asus G74S-AH71 arrived today. This makes me happy.(*actually, it's sort of a coated matte black, not shiny)Things I've Done So Far- Started it up and gone through all the initial Windows setup, patches, etc.- Turned on Windows Defender rather than the bloatware AV trial version the machine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6998,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/11\/15\/music_hark_4.html","url_meta":{"origin":44044,"position":4},"title":"Music, hark!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 15-Nov-04 6:47am","format":false,"excerpt":"I seriously considered getting an iPod. Really. All the reviews I read indicated the new ones were the cat's whiskers. Easy to use, decent hardware, and intimitately tied into iTunes....","rel":"","context":"In "Hi-Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Hi-Tech","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/hi-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"sandisk.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/sandisk.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12983,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/08\/26\/potpourri_on_a_warm_tuesd.html","url_meta":{"origin":44044,"position":5},"title":"Potpourri on a Warm Tuesday Night","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 26-Aug-08 10:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"POLITICAL Obama\u2019s Likes and Dislikes - Hold the Mayo - NYTimes.com\u00a0- He dislikes mayonnaise. He must be our next president. Sound familiar?\u00a0- So why are the pundits not calling Ahnold...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging - Technical"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging - Technical","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogging-technical"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44109,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44044\/revisions\/44109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}