A self-destructing storage device that vaporizes its contents at the first sign of trouble would be an invaluable tool for many people, but good luck getting your hands on such a thing if you don’t work for a three-letter agency. Or at least, that’s what we would have said before [Walker] got on the case. He’s working on an open source self-destructing USB flash drive for journalists, security researchers, whistleblowers, or anyone else who really values their privacy.
When we previously covered this project in July, [Walker] had only planned to make the flash drive hide its contents unless you knew to wet your fingers before plugging it in. We admit it sounds a little weird, but as far as clandestine methods of activating something goes, it’s pretty clever. But based on the feedback he received, he decided to go all-in and make the USB drive literally trash itself should it be accessed by somebody who doesn’t know the secret.
An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.
But how exactly do you pull that off? Sure we’d love to see a small thermite charge or vial of acid packed in there, but obviously that’s not very practical. It needs to be safe to carry around, and just as importantly, unlikely to get you into even more trouble with whoever is searching through your belongings. To that end, [Walker] thinks he’s come up with an elegant solution.
The datasheet for his flash memory chip says the maximum voltage it can handle before releasing the Magic Smoke is a meager 4.6 V. So ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
