Hi guys
So I read a Tom's Hardware article recently about the USB Killer 2.0 and was wondering if the Transient Voltage Suppression diodes that Asus includes on its Sabertooth motherboards (such as the Sabertooth Z170 S) are sufficient protection against this attack.
Basically, the device looks like a USB flash drive but when plugged in, it charges its capacitors from normal USB power then blasts 200 volts of DC power back into the system on the data transfer pins of the USB port, effectively frying the device.
The attack:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/usb-killer-2.0-power-surge-attack,32669.html
Asus Sabertooth Z170 S features:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH-Z170-S/
Also, it's obvious that the rear ports of the Sabertooth have some form of protection, but there's no specific mention of protection for the on-board USB headers. If those are vulnerable, protection is as simple as not connecting case-mounted ports but if the rear port connection is vulnerable to the 200 volts sent by the USB Killer 2.0 then it's game over. Does anyone have more info on this board or others that may be protected from this type of overvoltage attack?
Thanks!