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posted by
martyb
on Wednesday November 26 2014, @04:56AM
from the need-to-put-a-filter-on-that-e-cigarette dept.
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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E-Cigarettes are Bad for the Health — Of Your Computer
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Fascinating is a word I use for the unexpected.
-- Spock, "The Squire of Gothos", stardate 2124.5
(Score: 2) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday November 26 2014, @02:55PM
Some devices simply refuse to charge on a charge-only cables. My Google Wireless charger will refuse to charge unless you plug it into its own AC adapter from it's own cable.
Makes the device useless for me as I wanted to use it on a 12V adapter in the car. But since Google doesn't make one for this device, it is now uselessly relegated to my desk. Eventually I will step on the cord and break it, and make the entire device inoperable until I pay a fortune for a replacement instead of using one of the dozens of cheap usb cables I have. Well done, Google, you are turning into Apple. The student has exceeded the master.
It would be easy for the trojan e-cig maker to have their device refuse to charge unless it has a data connection.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Fnord666 on Wednesday November 26 2014, @03:41PM
I had not heard of this before. That is truly obnoxious.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 26 2014, @04:26PM
At least for USB2, if you unhook the D+/D- pins, your device is simply not compliant with the USB spec. So it's not surprising if USB devices fail to work. For example, they won't be able to successfully negotiate a higher power usage so may be limited to the default 100mA (0.5W). This might not be sufficient power to charge the battery.
The newer USB3 specs include a lot of additions for power-only devices, including (I believe) power negotiation over the two power wires, as well as higher voltage modes. So the situation may improve in the future.
(Score: 2) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday November 26 2014, @06:44PM
So all USB2 charge-only cables are technically non-standard? How do wall warts charge phones, then? Maybe they just look for the data pins to be hooked up to something, but not actually communicate.
I had noticed that older Motorola devices some are more picky about what chargers they connect to. The Nexus 5 would connect to anything, but it will charge very slowly on 500ma, it might not even connect at all when it is at 100ma.
I am sure that you probably need an amp or more brick to run the wireless charger. But I know the 12V car adapter I used is 2.5A (though its dual port, so I expect it is 2.5A total between 2 ports)
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 1) by Pino P on Wednesday November 26 2014, @09:35PM
There is the "Battery Charging" spec on USB.org, which gives "dedicated charging ports" a way to signal to devices that they're allowed to draw more than 100 mA from the port without a data connection. But a lot of devices were manufactured before the spec was published.
(Score: 2) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday November 26 2014, @06:39PM
I would like to believe that I was doing something wrong here, but even if you plug the device into its own charge brick with a different cable, it still will not work. (Also the power brick is designed with a non-standard usb socket that is recessed into the device, so most usb cables will not even fit into it.)
It isn't poorly designed, it is maliciously designed.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by hankwang on Wednesday November 26 2014, @05:54PM
"My Google Wireless charger will refuse to charge unless you plug it into its own AC adapter from it's own cable."
Don't be too quick to blame Google. Most USB chargers will delicver at most 1 A current, sometimes 1.3 A. All Qi wireless chargers that I've seen require a 1.5 or 2 A supply. I have a dongle to measure the charging current and I can see how it's tryng to pull more current; the voltage drops; the Qi charger stops charging; voltage rises again, and so on.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 27 2014, @04:53AM
Have you tried a small inverter to make 120VAC from the 12VDC in your car? You can plug your special wall wart into "wall power" in the car. These are cheap and have other uses too.
With a larger inverter (600 watt in my case) I used my car as a generator during an extended power outage. My 1992 car with electronic fuel injection ran just above idle...for 8 hours at a stretch, and several days in a row. I just put a stick between seat and throttle pedal, and adjusted the rpm to make sure the alternator was maintaining charging voltage (~14V). Iirc the tach showed about 1200 rpm. This didn't cause any damage--the car ran another 60K miles after the ice-storm power outage, with no engine problems.
Older cars with carburetors would likely foul spark plugs and suffer other insults from that much protracted running at low rpm.