Ever got a backdoor installed on your computer by your beloved mouse? Here’s the story of a poor mouse that got really, really sick.
Agent “Danger Mouse”
Do you remember the times where people put Teensy-boards and USB hubs in their mouses? [Chris? ;)] Their aim was to attach an additional Human Interface Device (HID, like keyboards or mouses) with some payload in kind of e.g. keystrokes or mouse movements. Also, there are devices available like the USB Rubber Ducky in the housing of a USB thumb drive.
The principle is easy: The tools are using a programmable microcontroller with the capability to emulate USB HID. That’s it. Just program your board of choice with the payload fitting your needs and plug it in at the target computer. The latter will recognize it as a keyboard/mouse and the payload-keystrokes will be entered.
But why should external hardware be used? Many modern gaming peripherals provide functions to store macros on them, including enough onboard memory for little payloads.
At times with many many digitally transmittable diseases, protection might be more important than ever. When connecting your smartphone to a rogue charger, or a foreign smartphone to your own laptop, you never now what will happen. You never know what data crosses the lines. But there is help: A USB condom!
As the Troopers 16 Badge was a neat integrated device, we had the challenge to identify something to be soldered for our attendees. The past has shown, that soldering rocks and all of our attendees, all of you, really enjoy it! After some looking around and roaming the Internet, we decided to go for a simple device, which would protect you and your devices in a hostile world. A slim PCB, which will protect your phone when having to connect it to some unknown charger or for situations when “a mate” just wants to connect his/her phone to your laptop for “charging purposes”.
So we got these shiny new BlackBerry Q10 and Z10 device laying on the desk one morning. It’s my first BlackBerry, I have to admit, but never the less, the hole wushy GUI and touchy glass stuff wasn’t my main concern, instead i took a look at the stuff going on while you connect the phone (do i have to call it blackberry? its a phone, isn’t it?) to your computer.
