# hephaest0s/usbkill

« usbkill » is an anti-forensic kill-switch that waits for a change on your USB ports and then immediately shuts down your computer.

Repository: https://github.com/hephaest0s/usbkill
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/usbkill
Language: Python
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-03-01T03:31:20+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4218, "days_push": 915, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4631, forks 514 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:55.308872+00:00)

## What it is
usbkill is a Python-based anti-forensic kill-switch daemon that monitors USB ports and immediately shuts down the computer when any USB change is detected. It is customizable with whitelists, pre-shutdown commands, RAM/swap wiping, and works on Linux, BSD, and macOS.

## Use cases
- shut down my laptop automatically if someone pulls out my USB key
- protect an encrypted server from physical seizure
- prevent USB devices from being added or copied from my computer
- defeat mouse jigglers during a police raid
- wipe RAM and swap before shutdown when USB activity is detected

## When to choose
- you need a physical tamper kill-switch for an encrypted machine
- you run Linux, BSD, or macOS and want a lightweight Python script with no dependencies
- you want to whitelist trusted USB devices and customize shutdown behavior

## When to avoid
- you need protection against non-USB physical attacks
- you want a Windows solution
- you need a kernel-level driver rather than a userspace script
- you require ongoing active development or official support

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: security, cli
- domain: security, privacy
- platform: bsd, python, cli
- tags: anti-forensic, kill-switch, usb-monitoring, disk-encryption-companion, self-defense, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- hephaest0s/usbkill (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:55.308872+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:19:36.448586+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/hephaest0s/usbkill (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:55.308872+00:00, sha 8a3eb01a63b9)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.