Nasty Flash Drive that SPIKES the USB port

[DaveLembke]

Nasty Thumb Drive.... draws power from USB port and then discharges a high voltage spike to USB controller and everything down stream in the path.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/12/this-usb-drive-can-nuke-a-computer/

[Geek-9pm]

This story is credible.
This link claims to be the original:
*Blocked Russian URL*/post/251451/
With translation here:
http://kukuruku.co/hub/diy/usb-killer

[BC_Programmer]

Interesting. It says "Since a lot of USB controllers are built directly into the main processor… bye bye computer." Which doesn't make sense to me. I don't think the CPU has ever had USB Controllers built into it, and it has always been part of the chipset- Though perhaps this has changed, especially with stuff like Graphics being integrated into the CPU die.

On the other hand, This isn't notable, IMO; You can also directly connect AC wall current to the USB connector on a PC to fry it. And anybody intending to destroy my property in this manner is unlikely to be a person from whom I would trust USB Drives from.

[Geek-9pm]

Right, BC.
Most ,motherboards have some kind of protection from external mishaps. Many have separate USB controllers, which wold become trans if 110 volts was applied. But if the USB is part of  the southbridge, that would go out making the PC near useless.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southbridge_%28computing%29
The southbridge has many items needed for normal PC operation, including the BIOS and the PCI.

So never plug an unknown USB device into a PC you want to keep.

EDIT: With regard to USB hazardous voltages. There is no protection specified.

Ethernet standards require electrical isolation between the networked device (computer, phone, etc.) and the network cable up to 1500 V AC or 2250 V DC for 60 seconds.[143] USB has no such requirement as it was designed for peripherals closely associated with a host computer, and in fact it connects the peripheral and host grounds. This gives Ethernet a significant safety advantage over USB with peripherals such as cable and DSL modems connected to external wiring that can assume hazardous voltages under certain fault conditions.[144]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB