The first few days, limit yourself to just the lock screen trigger to avoid loosing your work as you get used to disarming BusKill before taking toilet breaks.Avoid moving your laptop after arming BusKill in the app.When using BusKill, work on a sturdy table with a comfortable chair.Here’s some tips to avoid false-positives: That said, it is designed to breakaway, so if you accidentally trigger BusKill (by, say, standing up to get a cup of coffee without disarming BusKill), then the worst that can happen (if you’re using the BusKill app without manually adding auxilary triggers) is that your computer will shutdown. Alt Shift addresses that issue in a FAQ:īusKill’s breakaway connector uses strong magnets that decreases the risk of false-positives. This brings the topic of accidental unplugging, where you could potentially get your data wiped out while forgetting your USB kill cord is attached to your computer. But the solution offers more flexibility, especially for advanced Linux users that can manually add auxiliary triggers, such as a self-destruct trigger that wipes the LUKS header, making the entire disk permanently inaccessible. By default, the program will not destroy any data, and simply turn off your computer if the USB cable to disconnected while BusKill is armed.

A separate website also provides documentation with more details, such as the operating systems supported: Windows 10, Mac OS 10.05, as well as Ubuntu 20.04/18.04.īusKill can be armed/disarmed from the command or the GUI program, and there are different levels of protection for your system. BusKill is fully open-source, and you’ll find the python scripts and GUI, as well as OpenSCAD files for the magnetic breakaway on Github.

I could not find a clear explanation for the USB thumb drive in this system, but I can only assume it’s for USB removal/insertion. It can be especially useful to journalists and activists that may get their devices seized by the government, crypto traders, military personnel, or travelers with sensitive data.īusKill is basically just a USB cable attached to the computer via a magnetic breakaway and to the user, for instance to a belt loop, and that will trigger a configurable Python script if the cable is detached while BusKill software is armed.īusKill is made up of four hardware components with a custom magnetic breakaway, a standard USB extension cable, and a USB thumb drive attached to a carabiner via a keyring. Data is can be extremely valuable, so Alt Shift designed the BusKill USB kill cord that will automatically execute a user-configurable trigger when your machine is physically separated from you.

Usb cord for mac