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While the most common methods used for hacking are DDoS attack, ransomware, phishing, virus, Trojan, keylogger, ClickJacking attacks, etc., hackers are now looking to modify e-cigarettes into tools to hack into computers:
To explain this, security researcher Ross Bevington showcased a presentation at BSides London that revealed how an e-cigarette could be used to attack a computer either by interfering with its network traffic or by deceiving the computer to make it believe that it was a keyboard.
[...] Many e-cigarettes can be charged over USB, either with a special cable, or by plugging the cigarette itself directly into a USB port on a computer, security researchers warn that your computer could actually be compromised by the simple act of charging a vape pen with just a few simple tweaks to the vaporizer.
[...] While e-cigarettes could be used to provide malicious payloads to machines, there is typically very little space available on them to host this code.
"This puts limitations on how elaborate a real attack could be made," said Mr Bevington.
"The WannaCry malware for instance was 4-5 MB, hundreds of times larger than the space on an e-cigarette. That being said, using something like an e-cigarette to download something larger from the Internet would be possible."
Previously: E-Cigarettes are Bad for the Health — Of Your Computer
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday June 18 2017, @12:57PM (1 child)
If I have access to a computer which will read a USB, I'll just reach into my pocket, and pull out one of my 64 gig drives. My favorite course of action, is to reboot the computer to my own drive. If the BIOS is locked, and I can't convince the computer that it should boot to USB, then I still dozens of other options.
So, these hackers have found a solution to a problem, but we need to define what that problem is, exactly. "How do we smuggle hacking tools into an environment where they might be banned?" Now what we have a problem defined, we might find other solutions. I'll bet I can design an ear ring to hide a USB. Or, a belt buckle. No one wears cuff links any more, but that wouldn't be difficult at all. A button on a jacket. Or, a button or zipper pull on one of those ubiquitous back packs - EVERYONE has a back pack, don't they? Oh yeah - tactical pens, capable of killing an attacker if you know how to use it. Just remove the human-lethal component of the pen, and install computer-lethal USB.
And, I think my solutions are more elegant than carrying a vape thing around with you, which attracts at least as much attention as a pack of cigarettes.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @01:06PM
The problem could be: "How to hack a computer on a secure network without physical access." So in this case, the vape wouldn't be your own, but belong to someone who does have access.