Thomas Benjamin: > Sorry! > > I don't know enough about USB thumb drives to answer those questions. > Perhaps someone else on this list can? > > Thumb drives with user flashable firmware are rare, however one should > still always be suspicious of any drive ordered through the mail. It is > better to go to a randomly chosen store and buy a randomly selected thumb > drive. > > > On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 5:01 PM, heath bunting > <[email protected]>wrote: > >> On Thu, 2 Jan 2014, Thomas Benjamin wrote: >> >> Yes. They contain firmware that can potentially be flashed by the user >>> and / or an adversary depending on the model. >>> Be aware, of course, that even if you get a model that cannot be flashed >>> by a user, if you get it by mail the adversary can still modify or replace >>> the >>> firmware before it before it gets to you. We know that the NSA does this. >>> >> >> so would you recomend a usb flash drive that allows the user to flash the >> firmware ? >> >> if so, what open firmware should be flashed upon it ? >> >> and which models of usb flash drive can you suggest ?
An example: I just opened the case of a USB thumb drive (give-away from my bank.. ha ha) that has an IC from ALCOR MICRO, CORP. [1] on it, but I cannot yet read the exact IC name. On the website are various ICs (*) that "Support firmware upgrade mechanism (ISP, In-System Programming)". So apparently, there are upgrade mechanisms, but I don't know whether they are usable via USB or just via the electrical interface etc. [1] http://www.alcormicro.com/en_content/index_en.php (*) also for SD Cards; reminds me to 30c3 talk... Cheers! _______________________________________________ Tails-support mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.boum.org/listinfo/tails-support
