{"id":3789,"date":"2022-01-18T11:08:07","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T11:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/18\/usb-bugs-are-off-the-shelf-goods-these-days-the-register\/"},"modified":"2022-01-18T11:08:07","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T11:08:07","slug":"usb-bugs-are-off-the-shelf-goods-these-days-the-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/18\/usb-bugs-are-off-the-shelf-goods-these-days-the-register\/","title":{"rendered":"USB bugs are off-the-shelf goods these days \u2022 The Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hardware hacker Ben Cox has spotted<\/a> an interesting bit of kit that we’re sure has entirely reasonable uses other than network intrusion: Plumspace’s Smart SFP TAP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can’t trust cables. We’re not just talking about the well-established quantum nature of USB Type A connectors, where despite the fact that it occupies three macroscopic spatial dimensions, it nonetheless requires more than two rotations to fit into a socket, and therefore is a spin-\u00bd object<\/a>. USB plugs are fermions.<\/p>\n

But did you know that some of them can also spy on you? Way back in 2008, the US National Security Agency (NSA) had COTTONMOUTH<\/a>, a bargain-priced $20,000 USB 2 cable that could wirelessly intercept or modify communications between a PC and USB peripherals.<\/p>\n

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