July 2, 2010 at 16:41Installing the Trojan via USB plug-and-play
Canadian computer engineers have discovered a new way to install hardware trojans into a system - via USB peripherals.
It turns out that a vulnerability in the USB plug-and-play protocol allows any USB device to impersonate any other. Thus, you can equip a Trojan keyboard, coffee maker or even an electronic cigarette, in principle - any USB device, and it will get full access to the system.
It was such a device designed by engineers from the Royal Military College of Canada, writesNews Scientist. They made a USB keyboard with a microcircuit that copies files from the HDD and can transmit information using Morse code using the built-in LED on the keyboard. This method of transmitting information was chosen only as an example, as an alternative, you could use cryptography and send files by e-mail - there is no difference.
Researchers published the results of their work in the journal Future Generation Computer Systems ( paid access ).
It turns out that a vulnerability in the USB plug-and-play protocol allows any USB device to impersonate any other. Thus, you can equip a Trojan keyboard, coffee maker or even an electronic cigarette, in principle - any USB device, and it will get full access to the system.
It was such a device designed by engineers from the Royal Military College of Canada, writesNews Scientist. They made a USB keyboard with a microcircuit that copies files from the HDD and can transmit information using Morse code using the built-in LED on the keyboard. This method of transmitting information was chosen only as an example, as an alternative, you could use cryptography and send files by e-mail - there is no difference.
Researchers published the results of their work in the journal Future Generation Computer Systems ( paid access ).