USBHarpoon Is a BadUSB Attack with A Twist
By Ionut Ilascu | August 20, 2018
Several security experts have built a malicious version of a USB charging cable, one that can compromise a computer in just a few seconds. Once plugged in, it turns into a peripheral device capable of typing and launching commands.
USBHarpoon, as its makers call it, relies on the BadUSB research from Karsten Nohl and his team at Security Research Labs. Their work showed that an attacker can reprogram the controller chip of a USB drive and make it appear to the computer as a human interface device (HID).
The type of HID can be anything from an input device like a keyboard that issues a rapid succession of commands, to a network card that modifies the system’s DNS settings to redirect traffic.
With USBHarpoon, security experts replaced the USB drive with a charging cable, something that is as ubiquitous, but less likely for users to be cautious of.
The cable comes with modified connectors that allow both data and power to pass through so it will fulfill the expected function. This feature enables it to be accompanied by any type of device that powers through USB (fans, dongles distributed at conferences), without raising suspicions about plugging the cable.
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