Are my Chinese-made USB devices hacking my machine?

that should be really easy to do. Please report back on your findings.

If I remember right a USB dongle can tell the OS it's a keyboard and it'll receive those signals from your real keyboard. You'd need to take the data out for it to be useful, no idea how to do that silently, it could do it through radio but then you have a very limited range. But yeah it's too costly to be worth doing it in mass scale and it'd be found out. Intelligence agencies do swap out parts, CIAniggers are known to intercept packages with laptops of people of interest to plant their niggerware and chink glows in the dark are known to have their fun with laptops of businessmen visiting China while they aren't looking (like when it's in your hotel and you're out). The second one I think is mostly useless now that it's known since what people do is they don't take sensitive data with them.

Anyone remember that Bloomberg article a few months back that claimed China hacked America's computers using a chip smaller than a fingernail and provided no details as to how that actually worked? What happened to that story? Memory-hole?

A SD card only lets you read data off of it using a very simple protocol. USB on the other hand is much more complex. It can be any amount of other devices including keyboards, mice, network card, or maybe devices with a vulnerable driver. USB now even allows a reading and writing the memory of your computer using DMA. github.com/ufrisk/pcileech/blob/master/readme.md

The story wasn't real.

Someone was able to get the microcontrollers inside SD cards to run arbitrary code, so there is a potential security risk.

How the FUCK can a cable standard for transferring power and data be inherently botnet?

If you have a Linux based system, it's trivial to poke at the USB traffic.

unix.stackexchange.com/questions/138742/how-to-dump-usb-traffic

unironically use a usb condom bug chasing faggot

Attached: allisbotnet-cloudflare.png (500x700 66.81 KB, 120.11K)

A USB cable can act as an antenna enabling side channel attacks.

No*
In theory, under a very specific set of conditions including damn near touching it. The shield is grounded by the computer as well, so you would need a molded cable with no shield connection at the host side. The cost to mass produce a broken usb cable would be way more than a little trace on the circuit board (which can be a very, very good antenna) in something potted and un-openable without a hammer.

a USB drive can be reprogrammed to be a keyboard emulator (badUSB) and then they'll open up a terminal and then wget a malicious payload and then execute it, all very quickly
just disable USB autorun because you don't want to run any autorun.inf files, among other things

but you'd probably notice it because it would be acting as a keyboard

some cheap flash drives will actually lie to the OS and say they have more capacity than they really do

example: if you buy a "128GB" chinese flash drive, it might only actually have 8GB of real storage, and then when you try to write more than 8GB of data to it, your data will be corrupted and you'll get errors

but that's not "botnet" it's just being scammed

USB was a mistake.

Simply do not re-use SD card readers, problem solved. USB devices will still have that problem though (e.g., BadUSB)

Oops, though it was about SD card readers... scratch that then.

...

Your security is already lost as soon as your opposition has physical access to the machine.

It doesn't take physical access to pick up radio waves. You'll probably have to be pretty close, but that doesn't count as physical access.

Never buy anything Chinese if it's technology

If you have a standard replaceable usb cable on a device it would require being within inches, no matter how awesome whatever is running on the off-the-shelf device is. If your adversary is within inches, there are a lot better things to do that put a coil around a usb cable.

This.

For a second I thought I was on some larp board for 14 year olds on hrt. Fucking fags leave

With Linux you can lsusb (BSDs have equivalent commands) and look at the bus before and after you insert something. If I was one of those Chinese botnet makers I'd make my USB flash drive or whatever a hub, which hooks to a real USB flash area on my USB spy chip, and looks like a normal flash drive to the user, but also I would have another device on that hub or two, why not? A typical Windows user would automount and autorun and whatever and the helpful automatic subsystems would be used to do whatever.

Also bear in mind that it's possible for a computer to emulate a USB storage device when plugged in. I have no doubt that there are all kinds of botnet USB devices in the wild which are actively hostile as well as other things which might be technically legal products which engage in shady data collection while performing their nominal function. The tricky thing with this is that there'd be no way to interrogate the USB bus and see if anything shady was going on, as the computer could simply stay in mass storage mode. Heck I'd work it so it does its magic in a few seconds when inserted, then start the flash drive routine. Users are accustomed to flash drives taking a couple moments to appear and mount.

If you're the paranoid type, you'd be investing significant resources verifying any sensitive equipment you get. Whether that machine is a CPU, a motherboard, a keyboard, or a USB mass storage device, you're not going to rely on it until you've verified its operation.

some rando image board shitposter buying usb dildos doesn't have the same threat model as a nation state actor
not everyone needs the same supply chain security
economics factors into security: does it make sense to buy a $200 safe to secure a $100 bill? no
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threat_model
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain_security
you are not a government, you don't need to be paranoid about the same kinds of threats that actually exist for real espionage

I'm just saying that someone who plays video games and browses image boards isn't as desirable as a target as someone like edward snowden or some other whistleblower, or someone who has access to valuable documents at a company (corporate espionage)

you're really not as important or valuable as you might think

They still spy on all Windows 10 users, facebook users, etc. and sweep up all Internet traffic. So if they can do something in hardware cost-effectively, they will. Well in fact, you have all the x86 "bugs" revealed now, when already 10 years ago Theo was warning people Intel was doing blatantly dangerous things. If he figured it out, then the fucks at Intel also knew, but kept quiet about it. That's cianiggers in action right there.
Anyway USB devices already have firmware. The only "cost" here is to program it so it can subvert peoples' computers in some interesting way. Since modern computers and OS are complicated pieces of shit, they have lots of options there.

There was a 'premium' keyboard a long time ago that the software they recommended you install (windows only) had a neat 'heatmap' feature. Whatever computer you connected it to (if you installed the software) would show the lifetime heatmap of the keyboard, independent of the device. I remember a pal of mine thinking about it and saying something like 'wait, how would that function unless...
(w/e she is pretty)

You don't have to be the friggin Prince of Siam in order to be targeted, and the implants might be ubiquitous enough that they profit either way. What if these devices simply add you to some botnet and then they can look at your files later to see if you're important?

Even if you're not important, your credit card information could be. It's not paranoid to think that state-level schemes are aimed at average users.

that would require a reverse shell, which you can detect
just use wireshark or Snort IDS to monitor suspicious traffic

yeah buddy, everything is a conspiracy
nobody sells real USB devices, they're all government spy tools
gimme a fucking break

Don't forget the conspiracy where they put mind control devices in our monitors and in our anime. Oh our network devices are also recording the traffic and sending it off the the NSA. Conspiracy ahoy!

this is what tinfoilers sound like:
youtube.com/watch?v=yJLhnts9-oQ

healthy skepticism and valuing privacy: sure, no problem
being a paranoid schizophrenic who thinks everything is a conspiracy: get help

Only applies to USB 3. Don't scare people.

You're still living in the past, this is the Cyberpunk era.

That link mentions a planet of mud people run by jews at the end.
Change your tune, tinfoil hasn't been produced in nearly a 100 years in significant quantities - you're long outdated.

Attached: GET9999999-10000000SpaceEthnostate.png (1434x334, 36.47K)

oh and because you'll bitch like the faggot you are over me mentioning there hasn't been tinfoil in ages - "tin" is a different metal to "aluminum". You just kept using the same word that someone else used without updating, even if it is inaccurate. The world has moved on. Time to update.

I'm scared now. I just bought myself a USB vibrator and vibrating buttplug.

Open them up. chances are thare there's not a penny worth of hardware in there, that is not necessary to run the device.

I sincerely doubt you'll have any problem with that. You don't need to connect it to a computer to use it. All you need is a USB wall charger to keep the battery going.

What if the botnet connects to your ME? The Russians and others are making great strides in defeating it.

Hi glownigger.

...

There have been backdoors and remote devices soldered into every piece of electronic that came from China and elsewhere since the turn of the century. The Japanese, NSA, CIA, FBI, CHICOM Barbarian Nigger Animals, Kikes, etc. have been spying and collecting data on all of your mundane shit for the purposes of a more predictable and easily pacified world. So yes, , all of these pathetic Globalist pieces of shit are collecting every piece of data of your life that they can. Don't be a pussy.

I believe you, but I'd like proof.

If you want to read about bugs and the state of the art in the mid-1990s there is a lot of information about the various Asian countries bugging the entire city of Seattle before the Asian Economic Forum meeting there back when Slick Willy was in president. Every nation invited was planting bugs and cameras and stuff, but China, Japan, and Korea were the worst offenders. At that meeting a Japanese delegation was invited in to see some high tech 3-axis CNC machine for making special quiet propellers for subs and one clever Jap got close to the machine and stepped with special soft gum shoes on some metal shavings which were intended to go back to Japan for analysis. It is notable that not long after the Japanese did start making 3-axis CNC machines and in fact sold one to Russia which was a big deal.

In any event there is little or no additional cost to the Chinese manufacturers to include spy features in devices. If it can be done in software it's essentially free.

The story was real but National Security letters have gone all around drying up Bloomberg's sources and preventing them from publishing more details. Over a decade ago it was revealed that the Chinese snuck their bugged components into our brand new stealth fighter planes too.

just search for usb power-only cables
not all usb cables do data + power
if you're really paranoid, check the pins yourself

I always make sure to buy everything Chinese. Price is one of the reason I love them.

I know the story was actually a story, I read it myself when it broke. What you're not providing is disproof. I know it is likely not true due to vagueness, but I'd like links to these "National Security letters" you speak of.

You cannot prove a negative.

OP here
So, basically, the answer is "yes"
They can be botnet. Probably aren't, but could be.

The answer is a lot complicated than that. You need to be an Electronics Engineer yourself to understand that. Personally, I make sure all my electronics devices come from Chinese sources.

and a sd card reader is connected to the computer through what ? lol. Even the card readers on your front panel of computer case are connected straight to usb pins on the motherboard.

You can prove rebuttle

The point is sd card readers can be botnetified, but not SD cards. So as long as you don't share the card reader between machines you can't spread malware or have your data exfiltrated if you're trying to maintain an airgap

That's wrong though, the microcontroller in the reader can be rooted and turned to any purpose. Many SD cards even have a wifi module now too.

Hey glownigger, people are now realizing that there is a government-mandated backdoor in all computers sold over the last ten or more years. It's not absurd to assume that quite literally everything computerized is also botnet these days.

I can't take anybody seriously who uses buzzwords.

That can only be true for microcontrollers with writable long term storage. Can you assume all microcontrollers have access to writable long term storage?

Are you fucking kidding me? What the fuck is wrong with you shills? You should have at least some tiny grasp of technical subjects if you're going to shit your glownigger crap all over the board.

Shame on you.

...

This implies there is a way to load instructions into the microcontroller. If you're loading the microcontroller programs into the removable SD card, then by common sense those instructions will not work when you actually remove the SD card.

You should really read about SD card malware before you try to logically extrapolate everything about it without knowing the state of the art.

As far as I understand, SD controllers inside the SD card are hard wired with their functionality, they don't get flashed with changed functionality after manufacturing.

Is that really true in all cases though? What about SD cards which aren't just flash memory, like the now common wifi enabled SD cards? I know that some of them support a software update because I've done it.

The point is even a microcontroller which doesn't have onboard flash, but can access the SD flash area, can be programmed to check for instructions on the card, perhaps the payload is in the reserved flash area even and thus invisible to a host OS?

You should read about SD card botnet, there are several types already as proof of concept.

I totally understand that it's possible for the controller of the SD card to be wired such that it relies on instructions located in the flash memory; the idea is that you could choose to change the functionality of the controller after manufacturing. I'm not involved in the design or manufacture of SD cards; I only understand the theory of how NAND flash memory works; I'm totally guessing that SD card controllers are hard wired with their functions. What I want to know is why would designers legitimately design these controllers to get updated with firmware. I cannot think of why SD controllers are so sophisticated that it requires updating 2 years or 5 years or 10 years after manufacturing. I know about wear leveling functions that support the life of the memory but I would guess that these would be well known and reliable and not prone to updating.

I'd like to read about SD cards getting exploited but I failed to find this specific topic within 20 seconds using my Google skills. All I could find was viruses attached to the files in the storage rather than being attached to the SD controller.

What if the cards boot from a private area on the flash ram? It would make sense from a design perspective to make it easier to test and incorporate changes to the controller.

You're right in that it's hard to get any information about how cards work, it's likely that there is one standardized design by a controller maker which many are based on but there could be incredible variety out there. But there have been groups providing proof of concept malware that runs on the flash controller.

Its is possible if you take it appart and put a weird chip in it

On Windows, have the Device Manager open when you plug it in and see if anything new shows up. If you see a random USB Keyboard, Mass Storage Device or some shit like that it's giving you AIDS, otherwise it's safe unless you want to be ultra tin foil about it.

Look through patents, if you want to find questionable designs. Worked for this guy:
youtube.com/watch?v=_eSAF_qT_FY

Tha's not a bad idea

just because your home setup doesn't have SIEM or IDS shit doesn't mean that'd fly in an enterprise

in other words, this shit would get detected and stopped really quickly

The news indicates differently, enterprises are constantly getting hacked and owned.

There was a defcon talk about some old type of USB flash drives from gookland that had their microcontrollers that handle memory programmed into external payload pushers or something
Your might look into that, its really cool

Yes. Https://tomu.im too see just how tiny these CPUs are

not an argument

name a single fortune 500 company that doesn't do network monitoring or supply chain security

Never claimed they don't, but they are piss poor at it.

they're still not going to let random employees buy chinese usb drives and plug them in