Beware viruses hidden in e-cigarette chargers and other USB chargers!

[RKP5637]

I've seen these popping up allover the place, really cheap USB devices.

https://www.bestvpn.com/blog/12065/beware-viruses-hidden-e-cigarette-chargers/

Whatever the pros and cons of smoking e-cigarettes, they have undoubtedly been a big hit with smokers looking to either kick their habit, or at least to mitigate its health risks.

Now, most businesses are very aware risks of the risks items such as USB thumb drives can be their systems, as these are a notorious vector for spreading computer viruses, and have instituted strict policies about their use (although personal users remain at high risk).

It now seems, however, that hackers in China have found a new means of infecting computers with viruses, using cheap pieces of hardware that many users would not even conceive of as threat – cheap e-cigarette chargers!

And that was the answer they were looking for, the made in china e-cigarette had malware hard coded into the charger and when plugged into a computer’s USB port the malware phoned home and infected the system. Moral of the story is have you ever question the legitimacy of the $5 dollar EBay made in China USB item that you just plugged into your computer? Because you should, you damn well should.’

[JaneyVee]

1. I thought this would be about Ebola.

But I guess its about eBola.

[greytdemocrat]

2. Our "Friends" the ChiComs. nt

[Kelvin Mace]

3. Highly dubious

So far all I have seen is various news reports citing each other, but the original source of the story?

So while e-cigarettes may be better for your health than real smokes, charging them up through your computer’s USB port — that’s the narrow slot you stick your phone cable into — can be a way to infect your computer with malware, experts say.

That’s apparently what one executive at a large corporation found out after he quit smoking and switched to e-cigarettes made in China, according to a recent post on the social media forum Reddit. The executive had a malware infection on his computer “from which the source could not be determined,” wrote an “IT guy” at the company. “After all traditional means of infection were covered, IT started looking into other possibilities.

“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.”

If it sounds crazy, tech security experts confirmed that e-cigarette chargers or anything, really, that can be inserted into a USB port can be a means of infecting your computer.

So, the whole story is based on the claims of anonymous poster on Reddit about something that could happen, but with no evidence that it actually did.

Believe this story when someone reliable actually examines a charger that turns out to be infected that was actually sold on the commercial market and is not a "proof of concept" example.

[RKP5637]

5. Just fyi, here is a search that shows this to be seemingly quite prevalent.

https://www.google.com/#q=virus+in+usb+chargers

[Kelvin Mace]

6. Let's see

the first story discusses the existence of WireLurker which can infect OS X and IOS systems via USB, that would be any USB, not just e-cigs.

The second story from The Guardian cites anonymous Reddit source, as does the Mirror, The Register and The Washington Post story. The WireLurker problem is over a year old, so our only claim that e-cigs are a malware vector are multiple stories in the Corporate Media which all source to Reddit. Not exactly rigorous journalism.

Is it possible? Yes. Is there credible evidence it has happened. No.

[RKP5637]

7. Yes, agree. Any USB device as discussed can be at risk, not just e-sigs. Specific e-sig only? No. nt

[Kelvin Mace]

15. Absolutely.

My objection is that when the media hypes something like this, it distracts from the real threat, which is you shouldn't be sticking strange USB devices of any sort into your computer without thought. It is kind of like stories accusing people of being infected with Ebola just because they have been in Africa. Is it possibly true, yes, if the people have actually been somewhere in Africa that has an actual outbreak. People get all worked up about these stories, then don't see the bus that hits them while they have their nose buried in their cell phone.

The greater risk of plugging an e-cig charger into your computer is that the poorly made electronics will fry your system. I have seen some shoddy stuff coming from China.

[dembotoz]

4. what is bad about wall outlets

hooking stuff to the cpu that do not have to be is just dumb

[djean111]

9. The problem is when people share documents on flash drives, for example.

Any USB can have a virus, and people don't usually virus-check them.

[djean111]

8. USBs have harbored viruses for quite a while now. Not news, but more people should know about this.

I never thought about it, until it happened to me, ten years ago.

[RKP5637]

10. I'm embarrassed that I had not thought about it and I'm a techie. I never buy things off

the shelf, but only OEM. Probably that's why I've been spared. I've mentioned it to several people now and they had not thought a lot about it either. Yes, definitely, more people should know about it.

[djean111]

11. I have been a techie almost all of my life, and I never thought about it until my entire work group,

working in Portugal, lost the use of all of our laptops by passing around a flash drive full of documents.
And it was not the documents, we could attach them to emails and send with no virus, we could burn to a CD and share them that way. The damned flash drive had the virus. Happened to me once with Magic Jack, too. The people who make the USBs can embed viruses. Not surprising some Chinese do it, and would not be surprised if the NSA snooped around using hacks on USBs. People buy them like candy nowadays.

[RKP5637]

12. I was in a discount store this week and noticed just a huge proliferation of USB devices

dirt cheap on the rack by the checkout register. I was amazed at how cheap they were ... now I wonder how many of them had viruses of sorts. I didn't get any, didn't need any.

[dilby]

13. Sounds like a big pile of BS scare tactics to me and this is why.

First USB chargers are not USB drives, they just use a USB cable and can draw power from a USB port to charge a device. My bicycle lights are charged via USB. If e-cigs were shipping with USB drives instead of just the chargers when you plugged it in you would see a drive become available on your computer. Next issue is that if some malware was on a theoretical e-cig that had this supposed USB drive instead of a charger then you would have to execute the malware for it to infect your computer, just plugging in a USB device with malware on it will not do anything to your computer unless you are running an old version of Windows XP that does not have the autorun patch applied.

Finally it would be possible to create a chip with firmware on it that would run on its own and could force the install of a virus on your computer. However the cost of creating this chip and then bundling it into an e-cig just doesn't make sense, furthermore taking apart the e-cig would expose the chip and thus expose the company who is producing them. I could see a government spy agency making one of these and slipping it to someone who they know would use it on a computer with sensitive information. I don't see them mass producing them and selling them down at the local Quicky Mart so they can get your grandmas internet cat picture collection.

[RKP5637]

14. The USB Condom circuit?

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/usb-condom-protects-your-phone-viruses-and-data-thefts-363836

A small, D.I.Y. security firm, INT3, has created the "USB Condom", a new attachment that fits on a USB plug and protects your phone from viruses and data thefts that it could be vulnerable to when your plug it into an unknown charging port. With the rise of charging-on-the-go and free charging kiosks at airports, cafes and shopping centers, there is the danger of "juice-jacking", where these kiosks have been configured to read the data on your phone, or even upload malware. The USB Condom works by blocking the data pins (used to transfer information on and off the phone) in a standard connector and only allowing the power pins (used to transfer electricity to charge the phone) to connect through.