Imagine malware that can take control of your keyboard, mouse, and webcam. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? Now, picture your PC coming across this malware which, oh by the way, is virtually undetectable. Hugging yourself in the corner and crying yet? This isn’t a hypothetical scenario either.
It’s real, and it’s called BadUSB.
According to SRLabs, a security research firm based in Germany, BadUSB can be loaded on any USB flash drive, and because it runs on a flash drive that’s connected to a target computer as opposed to the computer itself, it’s virtually undetectable to anti-malware programs installed on that machine.
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SRLabs says that a flash drive with BadUSB, when inserted into a computer, can act has a virtual keyboard, permitting a hacker to run malicious commands. It can also infect the controller chips inside other USB devices that are connected to the same computer. The stick with BadUSB on it can also behave like a network card and redirect a target’s traffic to malicious websites. On top of that, during bootup, a BadUSB-loaded flash or external hard drive can infect a computer’s operating system with a virus before it even completes the process of booting up. These are just some of the ways that BadUSB can ruin your life.
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Treating such an infection is also not a simple matter of unplugging the USB devices from your system and/or reformatting your hard drive either, unfortunately.
“Cleanup after an incident is hard: Simply reinstalling the operating system – the standard response to otherwise ineradicable malware – does not address BadUSB infections at their root,” SRLabs says. “The USB thumb drive, from which the operating system is reinstalled, may already be infected, as may the hardwired webcam or other USB components inside the computer.” SRLabs also notes that a BadUSB device could even replace your computer’s BIOS. Yikes.
Your best defense against such an attack would be to never accept or plug in a USB flash drive that you got from someone you don’t trust. Also, as ExtremeTech (somewhat humorously, we assume) notes, when it comes to mice and keyboards, there’s always the possibility of going back to PS/2 devices, assuming your PC’s motherboard has those ports. Strangely enough, we’ve seen high-end gaming PCs ship with PS/2 ports in them even today, like the Maingear Vybe Z97, which we reviewed recently.
SRLabs will be releasing proof-of-concept tools on August 7, which will be demoed at the BlackHat 2014 conference next week.
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Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Two residents of Chicago have filed a lawsuit in the US over claims that robots run by Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics captured their facial and hand measurements without consent, bringing renewed attention to the food delivery robots. The cases raise a troubling question: If a robot delivers food to your door, can it also be gathering sensitive information about you?
According to a report by The Associated Press, the proposed class-action lawsuits were filed in Cook County on Oct. 9 and allege violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The complaints claim that the robots’ cameras and LiDAR sensors captured information on customers’ faces and hands as they approached the machines to pick up their orders. Both have denied the allegations.