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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 Arik on Wednesday November 26 2014, @04:43PM

    by Arik (4543) on Wednesday November 26 2014, @04:43PM (#120312) Journal
    Neat little things. Just enough circuitry to negotiate the higher charge rates, but nothing that could possibly run Windows to be infected. And it has no connection to anything else that does.

    Got one for the car too. 2.5 amps, works great.
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