While you can use antivirus software to protect against viruses and a VPN to protect your privacy online, protecting your devices from physical attacks can be much more difficult.
For this reason, a project called BusKill released a custom USB magnetic breakout cable that acts as a dead man's switch for your laptop.
With BusKill's custom USB cable attached, your computer will automatically lock up if someone else cuts the magnetic connectors while trying to lift your device. While this type of security may be overkill for the average user, journalists, activists, politicians, and others at higher risk can use this product to keep their devices and data out of the wrong hands.
The creators of BusKill have been working on this project for over two years. The initial release was developed as a DIY project that allowed anyone with the hardware to compile the source code, although until now it only worked on Linux and the components needed to set it up were quickly exhausted.
BusKill
Following a collective effort at CrowdSupply, BusKill's custom USB cable is now available for purchase for € 59 and comes with an application that runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux that allows users to arm and disarm the cable with the simple press of a button. button.
Michael Altfield, who created BusKill, provided additional information on the latest version of the project and explained why he decided to extend its reach beyond Linux to TechCrunch, saying:
“Most people don't deal with top-secret whistleblower material and worry about secret police breaking through their doors, but that's the level of risk I designed BusKill for. And I wanted to make it accessible to journalists who don't necessarily use Linux and don't know how to use the CLI. . "
Users familiar with Linux can configure the BusKill application to trigger a self-destruct command in addition to locking their devices. This command scrambles a device's cryptographic keys, making the data on your devices completely inaccessible to prying eyes.
In the future, Altfield plans to launch triggers for BusKill that shut down a computer when the magnetic wire is cut.
We've also highlighted the best security keys, the best endpoint protection software, and the best protection against identity theft.
Via TechCrunch