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A comment on Journalist plugs in unknown USB drive mailed to him–it exploded in his face. Parent comment

Re:Journalist plugs in unknown USB drive mailed to him–it ex... by philipkglass on Wednesday March 22, 2023 @04:51PM (#35266911)
Explosives are relatively easy to make at home for technically minded attackers. Sarin and VX require much more difficult-to-obtain chemicals, or several more difficult synthetic stages, and are much easier to accidentally kill yourself with. The only criminal group I'm aware of that actually made their own nerve gas was the Aum Shinrikyo group:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack

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Re:Journalist plugs in unknown USB drive mailed to him–it ex... by Teever on Wednesday March 22, 2023 @06:37PM (#35268009)
What about ricin? I thought that it was relatively easy to source from castor beans.
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Re:Journalist plugs in unknown USB drive mailed to him–it ex... by umeshunni on Wednesday March 22, 2023 @06:45PM (#35268096)
I too watched Breaking Bad...
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Re:Journalist plugs in unknown USB drive mailed to him–it ex... by heavyset_go on Wednesday March 22, 2023 @07:33PM (#35268546)
You need to eat a lot of it. The only reason anyone even sees media about ricin is because it really isn't as potent as it's portrayed, and it stops copycats from using what they see on TV to kill a lot of people.
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Re:Journalist plugs in unknown USB drive mailed to him–it ex... by hilbert42 on Thursday March 23, 2023 @08:43AM (#35273839)
When I was a kid my mother would give me a tablespoon of foul-tasting castor oil as a laxative.

Since learning about the ricin connection it's always been a source of bemusement whenever I think about it.

Edit: presumably by 'a lot' you mean milligrams (by ingestion) and not micrograms. From my understanding eating 100mg would be a certain death sentence.

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Re:Journalist plugs in unknown USB drive mailed to him–it ex... by felurx on Thursday March 23, 2023 @09:33AM (#35274522)
Maybe some NaOH? Not deadly, but would certainly be very unpleasant to have explode in your face.
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