Most importantly, this release allows you to arm the BusKill GUI app such that it shuts-down your computer when the BusKill cable's connection to the computer is severed.
What is BusKill?
BusKill is a laptop kill-cord. It's a USB cable with a magnetic breakaway that you attach to your body and connect to your computer.
If the connection between you to your computer is severed, then your device will lock, shutdown, or shred its encryption keys -- thus keeping your encrypted data safe from thieves that steal your device.
Upgrading
You can upgrade your BusKill app to the latest version either by
This release now allows you to choose between either [a] locking your screen or [b] shutting down your computer when you arm the BusKill app from the GUI. By default, the BusKill app will trigger the lockscreen. To choose the 'soft-shutdown' trigger, open the navigation drawer, go to the Settings Screen, click Trigger, and change the selected trigger from lock-screen to soft-shutdown. For more information, see our Software GUI User Guide.
We're also happy to announce that, with the release of Debian 12, it's now possible to install BusKill in Debian with Apt!
sudo apt-get install buskill
Testers Needed!
We do our best to test the BusKill app on Linux, Windows, and MacOS. But unfortunately it's possible that our app doesn't fully function on all versions, distributions, and flavours of these three platforms.
We could really use your help testing the BusKill app, especially if you have access to a system that's not (yet) listed in our Supported Platforms.
And in this release, we specifically would like you to help us test the new soft shutdown feature. Please let us know if it does or does not work for you.
Please contact us if you'd like to help test the BusKill app :)
I like this! It could prove to come in handy when having to potentially pass through areas under the scrutiny of authoritarian agents of the state or against thieves.
Theft of high-risk users' data. Data could include private keys (eg theft of cryptocurrency assets), contacts of correspondence (eg sources of a journalist -- such as whistleblowers), etc.
For more information, see the Who Uses BusKill? section of the documentation.
Seems like it's supposed to prevent sensitive data from leaking in the situation where the person is physically removed from the computer?
The advertising material seems to suggest that their target audience are journalists, travellers (with sensitive info?) and crypto traders. Honestly, don't think it'll be helpful to most people though.
I made an app serving a similar purpose but with WiFi signal as a trigger rather than a USB. It’s called AirWatch and you can get it at vandersecurity.com/airwatch