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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><a href="http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/07/this-thumbdrive-hacks-computers-badusb-exploit-makes-devices-turn-evil" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/07/this-thumbdrive-hacks-computers-badusb-exploit-makes-devices-turn-evil</a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">/</span><br><div>The full talk/paper don't seem to be available yet, but they (a) figured out how to write malware that attacks a system via something plugged into its USB port (no, it doesn't depend on AUTORUN); (b) flipped that around and figured out how to replace the firmware on a USB device from the host. I wouldn't have thought (b) was possible - after all, how many firmware updates for USB devices have you ever seen? - but I guess it's handy at the end of manufacturing, and gets left open because ... who would ever think of attacking it?</div><div><br></div><div>On further reflection, though, I realized that the only thing new here is that they actually went and built a full-cycle virus. All the rest was done a couple of years ago: Apple published an update for its (USB) keyboards - <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4010">http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4010</a> - and someone reverse-engineered it and figured out how to upload any code they liked - <a href="https://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-09/CHEN/BHUSA09-Chen-RevAppleFirm-PAPER.pdf">https://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-09/CHEN/BHUSA09-Chen-RevAppleFirm-PAPER.pdf</a></div><div><br></div><div>The fun never ends....</div><div><div> -- Jerry</div><div><br></div></div><br><div><br></div></body></html>