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Comment by dancek | Hacker News Reader

The existence of the device is important in itself.

If it was possible to make a device like USB Killer, nobody would care. But now that you can order one online for cheap, it must be taken into account.

But yes, it's mostly for malicious use. Does demonstrating what malicious use is possible count as non-malicious?

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It might, but those are edge cases that should not merit a full blown commercial enterprise to sell them. I can imagine what's going to happen next: co worker did me wrong, I'll nuke his laptop when he's off to the loo. Girl in class ignored me? I'll nuke her laptop when she's not watching. For many people a laptop or a phone are essential and irreplaceable. I sure hope this will make next iteration of devices protected against those.

You can cause harm to others laptops without this device? The consequences for both parties are the same.

These have been around for purchase for quite some and there isn't a widespread rash of these devices burning out devices. I'm sure it happens, however the same could be said for TVBGones, car hacks, Wifi Pineapples, etc. If you're in the mood to destroy something it's relatively easy to do so. It's just a matter of time. This is why current disposable design trends are so pernicious. A motherboard is relatively inexpensive to replace on work environments where this is likely to be the most used. Access to other people's hardware can be somewhat risky for most people. There's a reason why most crimes of passion are easily caught. If you're intelligent enough to use this effectively, you're generally intelligent enough to find a different, legal way of revenge.

Not sure about this. You can damage most devices by hitting them with a hammer or pouring coffee on them. That's about $50 cheaper to do.

Less subtle with a hammer but true and fair enough.

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