Ecuadorian Journalists Targeted by Exploding USB Drives

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Only one of the five known devices exploded, but nobody was injured

explosive usb drive
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Journalists at Ecuadorian news outlets have received USB thumb drives rigged with military grade explosive charges. According to the Associated Press, at least five booby-trapped USB flash drives were sent to journalists across Ecuador. Thankfully, only one of the devices actually exploded, and it caused no injuries. A suspect has been detained for questioning.

Lenin Artieda, a journalist at the Ecuavisa news organization, was the unfortunate recipient of the USB flash drive that actually exploded. Artieda opened an envelope on Monday morning and fished out a nondescript USB drive. He plugged it into his computer and it exploded, destroying the PC. 

Neither Artieda, nor anyone else in the room, were injured by the blast. Later investigations by the authorities revealed that only half of the explosive charge within the USB flash drive case had ignited — so the journalist and others in the office at the time of the explosion were lucky, in a way.

Artieda is well known for his news coverage of crime and corruption. He has obviously ruffled the feathers of one or more nefarious Ecuadorian individuals to receive this unwelcome attention. Government officials are calling the USB drive mail bombs domestic terrorism.

The explosive packed into the USB drives is thought to have been RDX. RDX is a high explosive that's more powerful than TNT and has no discernible smell or taste, and was widely used in WWII. You've probably heard of RDX's plasticized form — it's the explosive agent found in C-4.

Other news outlets in Ecuador were similarly targeted. According to the AP report, Teleamazonas, Radio Exa, and TC Televisión also received devices but they failed to explode. The report doesn't discuss why these devices failed to explode, but perhaps the USB ports they were plugged into didn't offer a high enough voltage to detonate the RDX. Authorities also intercepted one explosive USB device before it reached its destination. 

Computer users should always beware of unsolicited, found, or left-behind USB drives. Even if they aren't rigged with explosives, plugging in an unknown USB drive is risky — they could house viruses, such as spyware, keyloggers, Trojans etc. There are also USB killer sticks, which are widely and cheaply available and are not very friendly to electronic devices.

Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • This is indeed close to terrorism, and kind of scary. But I don't really understand how these journalists got these USB drives in the first place?

    I mean, did someone mail them at their address ? Did they knew beforehand that they would be getting a USB drive ? If YES, then there has to be the sender's name/address and the courier name as applicable as well, IMO ?

    If the answer is NO, then why did the journalist insert and used the USB drive in the first place, if it was given/came from an unknown source ? What were the contents of the USB drive, and why was it sent to him/them ?

    Sorry, this is a bit confusing to me, or it lacks some details, OR, I totally fail to understand some part of this news    .

    But I'm assuming these journalists/reporters knew that they would be getting USB drivers beforehand, which had data pertaining to their field of work (reporting and publishing some news for instance) ?
    Reply
  • thisisaname
    RDX or Research Department eXplosive hardly military grade explosive given it dates back to the 1930s. HMX is superior to RDX
    Reply
  • TJ Hooker
    Metal Messiah. said:
    This is indeed close to terrorism, and kind of scary. But I don't really understand how these journalists got these USB drives in the first place?

    I mean, did someone mail them at their address ? Did they knew beforehand that they would be getting a USB drive ? If YES, then there has to be the sender's name/address and the courier name as applicable as well, IMO ?

    If the answer is NO, then why did the journalist insert and used the USB drive in the first place, if it was given/came from an unknown source ? What were the contents of the USB drive, and why was it sent to him/them ?

    Sorry, this is a bit confusing to me, or it lacks some details, OR, I totally fail to understand some part of this news    .

    But I'm assuming these journalists/reporters knew that they would be getting USB drivers beforehand, which had data pertaining to their field of work (reporting and publishing some news for instance) ?
    They were mailed to the new agencies, possibly to specific people or maybe just the general newsrooms. I don't think it's that unusual for news agencies to receive anonymous tips (which could potentially be in the form of a USB drive), so that would explain why they plugged it into their computer despite not knowing what it was/who it was from. Given that the USB sticks were to designed to explode I would assume there was nothing stored on them, as it would have been pointless. As far as why, I don't think any one knows at this point, except maybe Ecuadorian police (who claim to have a suspect.).
    Reply
  • TJ Hooker said:
    They were mailed to the new agencies, possibly to specific people or maybe just the general newsrooms. I don't think it's that unusual for news agencies to receive anonymous tips (which could potentially be in the form of a USB drive), so that would explain why they plugged it into their computer despite not knowing what it was/who it was from. Given that the USB sticks were to designed to explode I would assume there was nothing stored on them, as it would have been pointless. As far as why, I don't think any one knows at this point, except maybe Ecuadorian police (who claim to have a suspect.).

    Yeah, you do have a point and that seems reasonable as well. It could be that someone just sending some tips to the news outlet, but whether this is done on a daily basis/routine or it's the trend in the news media to receive tips from anonymous sources, I'm not quite sure about this.

    But why should the media/news agency trust an anonymous source for a tip in the first place ? But anyways, Ecuadorian police might divulge more details later on, as to what exactly transpired.

    But I'm certain that some known inside news source/media employee might be involved in this, so that's why the reporter trusted the USB drive, imo.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    Metal Messiah. said:
    But why will the media/news agency trust an anonymous source for a tip in the first place ?
    Anon info leads to further investigation.
    Of course, a random USB should be plugged into a fully disconnected sacrificial system. This is to prevent spreading malware.
    Explosions, however....

    (seen elsewhere - Was the software on the USB Pop_OS?)
    Reply
  • KyaraM
    I can imagine that it's not uncommon, especially when you report on stuff like corruption, to receive anonymous data drives as a reporter. Also, no, you don't always have to give a sender name and address and even if you do, it's not exactly hard to come up with a fake name and address. Worst case you throw it in the mailbox yourself. And, yes, use a system that is off network and not tragic to use for things like this. That should be common sense tbh.
    Reply
  • Wrss
    thisisaname said:
    RDX or Research Department eXplosive hardly military grade explosive given it dates back to the 1930s. HMX is superior to RDX
    RDX and HMX are both military grade, and stoichiometrically identical. One's just a bigger carbon-nitrogen ring than the other, which affords a little more stability. Both are synthesized simultaneously in the Bachmann process. Pretty much the only civilian purpose is controlled demolitions. It is not used for excavation, way too brisant and unsafe. Probably among the most "military grade" explosives/propellants in general use. (Detonate it to get the explosive, burn it to get the monopropellant.) Old ammunition depots have blown up because of how unsafe RDX can get.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Metal Messiah. said:
    But why should the media/news agency trust an anonymous source for a tip in the first place ?
    It could've been a document dump, for all they knew. When your beat is "crime and corruption", such evidence is invaluable.
    Reply