How do I determine what a mystery dongle does?

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Gullible@sh.itjust.works⁩ to ⁨askelectronics@discuss.tchncs.de⁩

https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/65a6127c-460b-49d9-8a39-3411310546cd.jpeg

Got a used business laptop and found a recessed dongle in it. The original owner says they have no clue, that it’s been in there since they got it. There’s no way a dongle is keeping this thing running, is there? I’ve already swapped the OS, if that matters at all

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l_b_i@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Looks like a yubikey. You should be able to list usb devices and it would show up.

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- Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  If it does it will show up as a keyboard
  
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  - l_b_i@pawb.social ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    it might enumerate as a HID type device, but it will identify as a yubikey.
    
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  - wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    That’s only true if the password option is enabled.
    
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litchralee@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
It looks a lot like a Yubikey, which is used to securely authenticate to company resources like a VPN. Fortunately, unlike losing a hard drive, a Yubikey can be deauthorized by the company and this the device becomes useless for malicious use.

So if you want to use that USB port for something else, it shouldn’t be a problem to remove a Yubikey for the prior user’s employer.

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- owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Can confirm, I have one just like this. The giveaway is the conductive metal bit, to have it be able to detect finger taps.
  
  You should be safe to remove it. It probably has some info stamped on the metal somewhere.
  
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  - litchralee@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I’ve never had a need to use a Yubikey, but is that the button which spews gibberish into DMs? I’ve seen that a lot at work on Teams lol
    
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laranis@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I think this is a solved question based on other comments, but can we take a moment to admire that OP has the self control to ask BEFORE removing the device?

I am much more of a push-the-big-red-button-to-see-what-happens kinda person. That dongle wouldn’t have lasted a second on my bench.

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winxp5421@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Possibly a hardware security key like a yubikey

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seathru@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
What operating system did you put on it? Should be able to find it in your devices list. Or at least a mac address to work backwards from.

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- Gullible@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Just swapped to mint (mate) so it’ll take me a minute to find out how to do that. Will update when I find out. Posted this as I headed out the door, not expecting answers to pop up anywhere near this quickly on a community with a post per month. I am endlessly surprised and delighted by lemmy
  
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  - azdle@news.idlestate.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    The command you’re looking for is lsusb. There’s going to be a lot in there, but for a security token like that, you’re probably looking for something that says “yibikey”, “Fido”, or “u2f”.
    
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  - seathru@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Oh yeah, you should find lots of tutorials on identifying unknown devices in mint. It probably is a yubikey like others have said; but it would be a good tutorial to teach yourself a useful linux skill if you want to learn it.
    
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Bonesince1997@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I can’t believe they use SS and a lightning bolt 😂

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- Gullible@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  It is a bit silly, but it’s always been the usb3 symbol
  
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- Mwa@thelemmy.club ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Atleast not 2 lighting bolts
  
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