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posted by martyb on Wednesday November 26 2014, @04:56AM   Printer-friendly
from the need-to-put-a-filter-on-that-e-cigarette dept.

The Guardian features a story about e-cigarettes carrying some malware, infecting computers used to charge them. Though not entirely surprising when you actually think about it, personally I'd not have expected non-computerized devices which just happen to have micro-usb charger socket to pose a threat to IT security.

From the article:

“The made in China e-cigarette had malware hardcoded into the charger, and when plugged into a computer’s USB port the malware phoned home and infected the system.”

Later the article references some low-level attacks might be used to reprogram USB chips on devices, letting them act as USB keyboards issuing commands on the behalf of the logged in user, etc.

 
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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by nyder on Wednesday November 26 2014, @05:13AM

    by nyder (4525) on Wednesday November 26 2014, @05:13AM (#120127)

    If you feel the need to smoke, smoke marijuana. You can not infect your computer smoking weed. You can, while stoned, do stupid shit that will infect your computer. But that's on you, not on your weed.

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 26 2014, @05:14AM

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  • (Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday November 26 2014, @05:40AM

    by q.kontinuum (532) on Wednesday November 26 2014, @05:40AM (#120168) Journal

    I wouldn't bet [youtube.com] on it. Ok, that's not about the actual weed but about e-smoking the active substance of it, but progress doesn't stop for dope-heads either ;-)

    --
    Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
  • (Score: 1) by bookreader on Wednesday November 26 2014, @11:10AM

    by bookreader (3906) on Wednesday November 26 2014, @11:10AM (#120217)

    It could probably be even safer to cook marijuana instead of smoking it. No computer viruses, no USB charging, no bad effects from smoking, same effect on your mind.