Inventor’s USB stick of death is capable of instantly electrocuting your PC

USB sticks might not be the hottest pieces of tech around anymore, what with the cloud storing all of our work and media on servers, but they can still come in very handy. Unless, of course, they’re designed to kill anything they’re plugged into.

A mysterious Russian security researcher going by the name of Dark Purple, has created a USB stick designed to send -220 Volts directly through a standard USB port.

The result, as you can imagine, is rather disastrous, resulting in the frying of the motherboard, and the destruction of almost anything with a USB port.

Having said that, the creator goes on to say that once the motherboard is replaced, the data on any hard drives should remain intact, which is nice we suppose.

Luckily the device is a one-off hack and a proof of concept for now. Hopefully it will stay that way.

[Habrahabr via Tom’s Guide]

Esat Dedezade Contributor

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Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.