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Comment by new299 | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what voltage is required to kill the Mediatek chip? Maybe a simple jig that put -24v through it could fry it?

Of course, if you're expecting it, this device should be relatively simple to stop. I can imagine more stealthy variants however.

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If you already know it's there, you probably don't need to go through the trouble of destroying it, unless you just want to fry random USB devices.

The idea is that you would apply a high voltage to just the cable, with nothing else attached. If it's just a cable, no harm no foul. On the other hand, if you start seeing smoke from the embedded electronics, you may want to use a different cable.

Unfortunately, that approach will become less useful in the future, as all USB-C cables that support USB 3 and/or high power contain a chip to advertise that fact[1]. (And then there are Thunderbolt cables, which look the same but require even more sophisticated electronics.)

[1] https://e2e.ti.com/blogs_/b/analogwire/archive/2016/03/07/wh...

If anything this is just more reason to avoid USB-C.

You could also just use one of those cheap USB power/voltage monitors as the author does. Obviously a cable alone should not be drawing power.

Maybe an innovative company could add warnings for USB ports that draw power but have no recognized device. For the advanced ports with charging support and so on they should have power monitoring already.

or you could unplug it, take it home and keep it as a pet

Or even better, take out the SIM and find to whom the number is registered to. In many countries numbers require registration, ie. you can't get one without showing personal papers. Of course intel agencies aren't required to do that, so that if you can't get a real name for that SIM then you're 100% sure you're being watched by people a bit more powerful and dangerous than your suspicious wife (unless your wife works for them :^). Using cellphones or anything related to them, especially if you don't plan to recover the device, is not good for spying because you're leaving behind tracks almost as important as DNA. Nice article though. If some of you want to experiment with these devices, you can get a SIM800 or A6 GSM modules then pair it with a small uC for a lot less than €10.

https://github.com/carrascoacd/ArduinoSIM800L

http://simcom.ee/documents/SIM800/SIM800_Hardware%20Design_V...

http://www.electrodragon.com/w/GSM_GPRS_A6_Module

https://www.makerfabs.com/desfile/files/A6_A7_A6C_datasheet-...

>If you can't get a real name for that SIM then you're 100% sure you're being watched by people a bit more powerful and dangerous than your suspicious wife

If you conveniently "forget" or show heavy reluctance to give your info and papers when buying a new phone, you can get an unregistered SIM. Just promise them you'll give the info "later". The salespeople don't like the hassle and just want to secure the sale.

You can also easily give fake info and "forget" your ID card, since it's not verified, but that's dangerous if you get caught.

Simple social engineering.

Good luck with that, it not hard to convince random homeless guy to register sim card on his name, even for wife.

Simply removing the SIM would sort you out to stop it doing much, it seems.

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