Do Not Use USB Data Cables of Unknown Origin!

It is an essential item in modern daily life; it is a reliable guarantee for people to access the internet and enjoy a digital lifestyle; it is a necessary support for mobile game enthusiasts to fully immerse themselves.

It is something you are very familiar with—the USB phone charging cable.

USB is the most widely used external bus standard in the PC domain, designed to standardize the connection and communication between computers and external devices.

USB interfaces support plug-and-play and hot-swapping capabilities.

Depending on different interfaces and cables, USB supports various devices such as mice, keyboards, printers, scanners, webcams, flash drives, MP3 players, mobile phones, digital cameras, external hard drives, external optical drives, USB network cards, ADSL modems, cable modems, and other electronic products.

In short: USB data cables are used for the connection and communication between computers and external devices, as well as for charging phones and connecting them to external devices.

Simply put, they are used for data transfer and charging.

This is something so commonplace in our daily lives that it usually goes unnoticed.

However, this seemingly simple USB cable, if exploited by criminals, can shatter your understanding and bring unexpected "features" to your device.

Back in 2019, media reports highlighted a type of hacked charging cable called the O.MG cable.

It looks identical to a regular Apple Lightning charging cable, but if you plug it into your device, hackers can remotely control it.

The O.MG cable has a built-in wireless hotspot, allowing attackers to remotely connect and run commands, doing anything they want.

This cable supports both local connections and remote network access by hackers.

Most astonishingly, this cable has already been mass-produced and is being sold on certain hacker websites.

The description on the website is enough to alarm anyone in the security industry: by simply plugging it into the target device, it can control the device through the built-in wireless network interface, allowing for complete remote creation, storage, and transmission of data.

USB data cables similar to the O.MG cable come with the following insecure "features":

1.Eavesdropping

These espionage devices, disguised as mobile phone charging cables, can quietly listen to your conversations while you charge your phone.

2.Location Tracking

Many people use car chargers to connect their phones for navigation or voice calls.

However, most might not notice that connecting a malicious USB data cable not only allows for eavesdropping on in-car conversations but can also transform into a GPS tracker, enabling someone to follow your movements.

3.Injecting Malware into Phones

One of the primary functions of the aforementioned O.MG malicious charging cable is to inject pre-made malware into phones, direct users to specific web pages, or open particular files.

Once a phone is infected with malware, all its information is no longer private. Chat logs, browsing history, transaction records, contacts, and more will be exposed to malicious spies.

In light of this, we advise everyone to follow these practices:

• For Android phones, choose "Do not enable USB debugging" when connecting to a computer. For Apple phones, choose "Don't Trust This Computer" when prompted.
• Avoid using data cables, headphones, power banks, etc., from unknown sources.
• Try to avoid using public networks without passwords.

I am Charlie Wu.

Thank you for your reading!