Here’s a neat little program that acts to shut down your laptop or desktop if it detects activity in the USB drive. The article isn’t too clear about what it means by ‘activity”, however, given the author of the program’s comments and recommended use, I’ve inferred that ‘activity’ refers to either plugging the USB into the port or pulling it out of the port.
The program is affectionately named “USBkill” by its author, Hephaestos. It is written in Python and is, currently, only available for Linux and MAC. Though, the program can be used on Windows, but it would need to be modified to use Windows file directories, instead of Linux or MAC directories. The program only works if it is activated.
Hephaestos claims that it could be used to protect the computer’s owner against law enforcement search and seizures. For the folks out there who don’t know, once a computer or laptop is shut down, it kills the programs running on the machine (obviously) and discards the data stored in the computer’s Random Access Memory (RAM). This information is often critical to police investigations because it paints an accurate picture as to what the user was doing before the police arrived.
Hephaestos intends to add additional features to the program in the future, but, he claims, that it is perfectly functional in its current state.
Hephaestos lays out a scenario in which his program would come in handy. His scenario involves having a USB on you, activating the program, and then plugging the USB drive into your computer the moment the police arrive. The police would likely remove the device which would power down your computer.
This doesn’t seem like the most useful application of the program as you wouldn’t necessarily know when the police will arrive and, if you did know when they would arrive, you could just restart your PC manually. However, it is nice that he has thought of a use for his program and he, along with just about everyone else, will likely think of more uses in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment