CURRENT ARTICLES
Fall 2020, No. 2, vol. 2 / Romanian Cyber Security Journal
Securely Transferring Data from BadUSB Devices
Marian TICU
marianticu89@gmail.com
Abstract:
The constant growth and improvement of BadUSB devices pose an increasing threat
from a cybersecurity perspective. Nowadays, regular USB devices could turn into BadUSB
devices by reprogramming the firmware. They achieve new features and can simulate other
peripheral devices like a keyboard or an external network adapter which could be used for
malware purposes: keystroke injection, malware delivery, data exfiltration, network hijack
or electrical damage. The manuscript addresses the topic of Bad USB devices and proposes
a mitigation solution based on a Raspberry Pi system with a custom-made kernel which
limits the attack surface by removing certain kernel modules.
Keywords:
BadUSB, Raspberry Pi, USB data transfer, USB HID attack, USB security