USBkill - Anti-Forensic Kill-Switch that waits for a change on your USB ports


USBkill is an anti-forensic kill-switch that waits for a change on your USB ports and then immediately shuts down your computer.

To run:
sudo python usbkill.py

Why?

Some reasons to use this tool:
  • In case the police or other thugs come busting in (or steal your laptop from you when you are at a public library as happened to Ross). The police commonly uses a "mouse jiggler" to keep the screensaver and sleep mode from activating.
  • You don’t want someone retrieve documents (such as private keys) from your computer or install malware/backdoors via USB.
  • You want to improve the security of your (Full Disk Encrypted) home or corporate server (e.g. Your Raspberry).
[!] Important: Make sure to use (partial) disk encryption! Otherwise they will get in anyway.
Tip: Additionally, you may use a cord to attach a USB key to your wrist. Then insert the key into your computer and start usbkill. If they steal your computer, the USB will be removed and the computer shuts down immediately.

Feature List

(version 1.0-rc.2)
  • Compatible with Linux, *BSD and OS X.
  • Shutdown the computer when there is USB activity.
  • Customizable. Define which commands should be executed just before shut down.
  • Ability to whitelist a USB device.
  • Ability to change the check interval (default: 250ms).
  • Ability to melt the program on shut down.
  • Works with sleep mode (OS X).
  • No dependency except srm. sudo apt-get install secure-delete
  • Sensible defaults

Supported command line arguments (mainly for devs):
  • --no-shut-down: Execute all the (destructive) commands you defined in settings.ini, but don’t turn off the computer.
  • --cs: Copy program folder settings.ini to /etc/usbkill/settings.ini