A USB flash drive may look small and inconspicuous, but it’s no secret that it can turn into an agent of chaos. Over the years, they have infiltrated Iranian nuclear facilities, infected critical control systems at U.S. power plants, transformed themselves into programmable, undetectable attack platforms, and turned connected computers into devastating threats. I’ve seen it used to destroy with a 220 volt electrical surge. These are just a few examples, but should be enough to prevent you from inserting a mysterious, unsolicited USB drive in the mail into your computer. Unfortunately, one of his Ecuadorian journalists was unable to obtain the memo.
As reported by Agence France-Presse (via CBS News) on Tuesday, five Ecuadorian journalists received USB drives in the mail from Quinsaloma.Each USB stick was designed to explode on startup. rice field.
Lenin Artieda of Guayaquil’s Equavisa television station received the drive, and when he inserted it into his computer, it exploded. A police officer who spoke to AFP said the journalist had minor injuries to his hand and face, but no other injuries.
Police official Xavier Chango said the flash drive that exploded contained a five-volt explosive and is believed to have used RDX. The military uses RDX, which “can be used alone as a basic detonator charge or mixed with other explosives such as TNT.” Chango said it’s in a capsule about 1 cm long, but only half of it was active on the drive Artieda plugged in, so it likely escaped damage.
Fundamedios, an Ecuadorian non-profit focused on media rights, said on Monday that it saw letters with USB stick bombs sent to two more journalists in Guayaquil and two in the Ecuadorian capital in a statement on the incident. announced.
Álvaro Rosero, who works at the EXA FM radio station, also received an envelope containing a flash drive on March 15, according to Fundamedios. But the radio station was lucky because the flash drive did not explode. Police determined the drive contained explosives, but believe it didn’t explode because the adapter the producer used didn’t have enough juice to activate the drive, he said. .
Yet another reporter attempted to access unknown content on Drive. According to Fundamedios, Milton Pérez of Teleamazonas’ Quito office could have detonated the explosive if he had correctly inserted the USB stick into his computer.
Police intercepted a fourth drive sent to Carlos Vela in Guayaquil and carried out a ‘controlled explosion’ in the same Guayaquil drive sent to TC Television’s Mauricio Ayora, BBC reports bottom.
What caused these attacks?
Ecuador’s Interior Minister Juana Zapata confirmed that all five cases used the same type of USB device, and the incident sent an “absolutely clear message to silence journalists,” according to AFP. Said there was
Fundamedios has attempted to shed light on the motives for the explosive drive, but information appears to be limited due to an ongoing investigation into terrorist acts by the Ecuadorian government. Rights groups say the detonated drive contained letters threatening Artieda, but letters attached to her USB drive sent to TC Television contained a message to an unspecified political group. was included.
A message accompanying the threatening drive sent to Perez in Quito included a message claiming, according to Google Translate of the Fundamedios release: I will send you the second part. I will communicate with you Coleismo is an Ecuadorian political movement named after former President Rafael Correa, who was president of Ecuador from 2007 until 2017.
In a statement quoted by the BBC, the Ecuadorian government said that “any attempt to threaten journalism and freedom of expression is an abominable act that should be punished with the utmost severity”.
Publications dealing with these cases show that Ecuador has seen a rise in crime over the past few years, which President Guillermo Lasso has attributed to drug trafficking, but that the recently sent USB weapons are behind the crime. The true motive behind this is unknown.
AFP cited other recent acts of violence around media stations in Ecuador. In the shooting at the RTS television station, the alleged shooter allegedly left a pamphlet signed by the Mexican cartel and threatened the newspaper’s president. In 2020, a bomb was reportedly detonated in Teleamazonas, and this month we also received a USB drive laced with RDX.
But whoever is behind the dangerous attacks on journalists, these disturbing tales can make you click on random links messaged to you, open unknown attachments, or download suspicious files. It should be a good reminder that it shouldn’t remain unknown, just as it shouldn’t.USB drives, especially those randomly mailed to you, can be inserted into anything. For some of these reporters, the idea of a hot scoop may have been tempting, but opening unverified devices and data carries great risks.
