USB Kill Stick Can Fry Almost Any Computer Within Seconds

A USB stick called USB Kill may be meant for good purposes, but in an unknowing user's hands, it can fry "just about any consumer or commercial device with a USB port in a matter of seconds," says Hot Hardware.

The company that makes the USB Kill stick says the device is intended to test prevention against a surge attack, which is essentially what the drive does. When inserted into a computer's USB port, the stick begins "rapidly collecting power from the USB power lines (5V, 1A to 3A) and then discharging over 200 volts of DC power to the host device," says Hot Hardware.

“The process happens multiple times per second until either the host machine is destroyed or unplugged,” the website added.

Even though the USB Kill stick is being referred to as “something out of a spy movie,” it's actually available for anyone to purchase, although it's currently backordered. It costs $56.

“Our tests reveal that more than 95 percent of all devices using USB ports will be damaged permanently or destroyed by a USB power surge attack,” USB Kill said in a statement.

USB Kill says Apple is the only manufacturer that has built protection systems in their laptops to prevent their consumers from experiencing the effects of the USB Kill stick, and that’s despite the stick being widely publicized for more than a year.

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