Former Student Admits to USB Killer Attack

Former Student Admits to USB Killer Attack

An Indian national used device to attack computers and peripherals at a New York college.

A former student at the College of St. Rose pleaded guilty this week to a February computer attack that destroyed $51,109 worth of computer and peripheral equipment and cost the New York college $7,362 in employee time spent in investigation and remediation. The attack vector was the USB port found in all of the computers, monitors, and computer-enhanced podiums hit in the attack.

Vishwanath Akuthota, a 27-year-old Indian national, shot video of himself during part of the campaign in which he used a USB killer — a USB stick that contains a capacitor that stores electricity then rapidly discharges it into a USB port, damaging or destroying the host computer.

Akuthota, a 2017 MBA graduate of the college, was arrested in February and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 12.

For more, read here and here.

 

 

 

Join Dark Reading LIVE for two cybersecurity summits at Interop 2019. Learn from the industry’s most knowledgeable IT security experts. Check out the Interop agenda here.

Dark Reading’s Quick Hits delivers a brief synopsis and summary of the significance of breaking news events. For more information from the original source of the news item, please follow the link provided in this article. View Full Bio

Former Student Admits to USB Killer Attack

An Indian national used device to attack computers and peripherals at a New York college.

A former student at the College of St. Rose pleaded guilty this week to a February computer attack that destroyed $51,109 worth of computer and peripheral equipment and cost the New York college $7,362 in employee time spent in investigation and remediation. The attack vector was the USB port found in all of the computers, monitors, and computer-enhanced podiums hit in the attack.

Vishwanath Akuthota, a 27-year-old Indian national, shot video of himself during part of the campaign in which he used a USB killer — a USB stick that contains a capacitor that stores electricity then rapidly discharges it into a USB port, damaging or destroying the host computer.

Akuthota, a 2017 MBA graduate of the college, was arrested in February and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 12.

For more, read here and here.

 

 

 

Join Dark Reading LIVE for two cybersecurity summits at Interop 2019. Learn from the industry’s most knowledgeable IT security experts. Check out the Interop agenda here.

Dark Reading’s Quick Hits delivers a brief synopsis and summary of the significance of breaking news events. For more information from the original source of the news item, please follow the link provided in this article. View Full Bio

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