Advertisement

Dongle 'fixes' your PC's security by killing your USB port

We've seen some questionable crowdfunding campaigns in our time, but this one might take the cake. A Russian outfit is raising money for USB Killer, a $99 dongle that thwarts data thieves by... electrocuting your USB port. Yes, you're paying money to damage your computer. There's even a disclaimer that this could wreck your motherboard, turning the whole PC into a paperweight. It's supposed to help in case of "emergencies" like break-ins, but something tells us that you'd have a lot more to worry about with someone so close to physically raiding your data.

It's hard to know where to start with this device's many, many problems. Can't you just disable the port with some glue, or by yanking a cable? What if a kid plugs in USB Killer by mistake? How do you handle more than one USB port? What about the far greater issue of internet security? It's a well-meaning concept, but you'd probably be better off buying software that prevents intruders from reading any data they manage to steal.