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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: 2) by Fnord666 on Wednesday November 26 2014, @03:44PM

    by Fnord666 (652) on Wednesday November 26 2014, @03:44PM (#120296) Homepage

    Can you trust your pigtail-device? Without opening and analyzing it first? Or could there be some hidden electronic in the "charge only" cable as well?

    Yes, but that's because I made it. I do see what you're saying though, especially since it would probably be manufactured in the same country as the e-cigs were!

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