This cheap 'kill cord' can trigger a laptop to self-destruct if stolen by a snatch and grab thief. So, what's the catch?
Share to linkedinMost people are familiar with the concept of a dead man's switch that, for example, activates the emergency brake should a London Underground train driver become incapacitated. There are many different technologies across multiple machines from the trains mentioned above right through to chainsaws. Unsurprisingly, laptop computers haven't been on the list until now.
Altfield wanted an anti-theft solution that could trigger the laptop to shut down, lock, or even wipe all data in such a physical separation scenario."I couldn’t find a low-tech solution that implements a laptop kill cord," he said,"so I decided to build one myself." The result is what Altfield calls a"BusKill" cable.The actual components to make a dead man's switch BusKill cable are readily available, and as cheap as chips.
I mentioned from the get-go that there was a caveat: this is a kill cord for Linux laptops, not those running macOS or Windows. That's because the solution relies upon triggering a"udev remove" action when the USB cable is disconnected. That action can be activating the lock screen, for example, shutting down the machine or even initiating a disk format to wipe all data.
The BusKill cable isn't going to protect you from the type of Advanced Persistent Threat attackers that
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