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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday November 03 2019, @08:52PM   Printer-friendly
from the evil-week dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

There's long been much handwringing around Halloween around the prospect of pins, needles and razor blades being hidden in candy and passed out to children. On the very rare occasion this does happen, the outcome is normally little more than some superficial cuts. However, for 2019, [MG] has developed an altogether different surreptitious payload to be delivered to trick or treaters.

Consisting of a small USB device named DemonSeed, it's a HID attack gadget in the genre of the BadUSB devices we've seen previously. When plugged in, the unit emulates a USB keyboard and can be programmed to enter whatever keystrokes are necessary to take over the machine or exfiltrate data. Files are available on Github for those looking to replicate the device.

The trick here is in the delivery. [MG] has produced a large quantity of these small devices, packaging them in anti-static wrappers. The wrappers contain a note instructing children to insert them into their parent's work computers to access "game codes", and to share them with their friends while hiding them from adults.

The idea of children brazenly plugging hostile USB devices into important computers is enough to make any IT manager's head spin, though we suspect [MG] doesn't actually intend to deploy these devices in anger. It serves as a great warning about the potential danger of such an attack, however. Stay sharp, and keep your office door locked this October 31st!

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 04 2019, @05:00AM (2 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 04 2019, @05:00AM (#915605) Journal

    I don't even shave, lol! I only use those blades in my knifes.

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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 04 2019, @05:13AM (1 child)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday November 04 2019, @05:13AM (#915612) Homepage Journal

    Wrong kind of razor blades. Those are utility knife blades. They're probably ten times as thick as the ones used for the old safety razors that lost popularity back in the sixties and seventies. And only one side of utility knife blades is sharp instead of both sides (there is no back, they're symmetrical). Unless you were thinking of the ones you'd use to scrape stuff off of glass with, in which case pretty much exactly like those if the sharp side were mirrored.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Saturday November 09 2019, @09:07PM

      by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Saturday November 09 2019, @09:07PM (#918388) Journal
      Hobby stores still sell the old thin razor blades for cutting balsa wood and trimming tissue paper when making model gliders. Utility knife blades are too thick to cut sheet balsa - it splits the sheet.

      I've posted a link to a recent CBC story about a razor blade in a chocolate bar from this Halloween below.

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