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#1 2024-05-06 17:43:11
- archuser38013
- Member
- Registered: 2024-01-27
- Posts: 96
Is it safe to buy a second hand 4g dongle online?
In terms of malware or something on it?
I read about rare cases for usbs.
Crypto guys are super paranoid about buying hardware and say you must always buy new.
Is it an issue?
4g dongles seem pretty rare here in the UK and the new ones cost 40 GBP and up but 2nd hand only a few quid.
I could afford to buy new if absolutely advised but is it unnecessary from a security standpoint?
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#2 2024-05-10 20:08:40
- seth
- Member
- Registered: 2012-09-03
- Posts: 61,631
Re: Is it safe to buy a second hand 4g dongle online?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BadUSB
The question you need to answer wrt this and https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=295657 is
Am I POI of some 3-letter agency or can a criminal group this way gain profit that significantly outperforms cost and effort of such attack?
If the answer to both is "no" this isn't relevant.
If the answer to the latter is "yes" you need to factor in whether they can direct the attack - they're not sending these around in bulk via ebay and hope for the best - too expensive and too much attention.
If the answer the first part is "yes", you cannot even trust the amazon delivery guy.
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