6 ms·
> One idea is to take this malicious tool, dubbed O.MG Cable, and swap it for a target's legitimate one. MG suggested you may even give the malicious version as
by MichaelApproved 7y ago
> One idea is to take this malicious tool, dubbed O.MG Cable, and swap it for a target's legitimate one. MG suggested you may even give the malicious version as a gift to the target
Even more frightening, people selling them as seemingly legitimate cables on Amazon? People will pay you and you get a new botnet.
How many could you sell before it's discovered?
How can I, as a consumer, even tell? Amazon will even allow you to sell your malcable under the Apple brand.
- Scoundreller 7y agoYour attack would need to be targeted since you can’t connect to your cable over-the-internet, only over the wifi interface, limiting you to that range.
- ebg13 7y agoThe article says > "But the cable can be configured to act as a client to a nearby wireless network. And if that wireless network has an internet connection, the distance basically becomes unlimited."
- wlesieutre 7y agoSure but it needs a password to the network. I don’t have any random public hotspots available near my computer.
- DenisM 7y agoAre you sure you don't have XFinityWIFI next to you? Most people live near one.
- Scoundreller 7y agoI’m in Canada. Our ISPs would never provide such a service in a million years.
- derefr 7y agoI don't know about other Canadian cities, but in Vancouver, there are both Telus and Shaw hotspots randomly strewn throughout the city. The Telus ones exist in public/government buildings as a co-sponsorship with the municipal government; the Shaw ones exist at the numerous charging stations for bike-share bikes, as a different co-sponsorship. Admittedly, you aren't really likely to run into either if you're not downtown. Then there's the Shaw hotspots which they expose on a dedicated side-channel of the routers of people who pay for their business Internet plans, which allow arbitrary other Shaw customers with authenticated MAC addresses to connect to them. Those are all over the place, and it'd be pretty easy to steal a list of a few hundred registered MACs and rely on that network to connect.
- Scoundreller 7y agoNot a thing in Robbers/Bhell territory.
- wlesieutre 7y agoChecked last night and yes I do. Guess I'll be keeping a closer eye on my USB cables. I rarely plug my phone into a computer, but I suppose this works just as well for any other USB device with a removable cord. USB-C is probably safe for now on account of the smaller connectors.
- Scoundreller 7y agoI suppose it could do some keyboard and mouse actions to extract your current wifi network’s password, copy to a file and spin up a tiny flash drive emulator to copy it onto.
- roywiggins 7y agoThe thing can scan for open wifi and phone home, so anyone within range of a Starbucks would be vulnerable.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ceejayoz 7y agoGiven that it can do things like open a terminal, I'd think it could automatically be set to install botnet malware. Sell a few hundred thousand on Amazon and you're in good shape. The wifi's just so you can control it remotely.
- michaelt 7y agoIf you were mailing the cables to random people, you wouldn't use wifi, it's true. You'd just want the fake keyboard to just use a terminal to download and install a trojan. If you can fire off a successful "curl | bash" on an internet-connected machine, wireless isn't needed. Of course, without wifi you've only got a USB Rubber Ducky clone [1] whereas with wifi, you've got an NSA COTTONMOUTH clone [2] which I imagine is much more likely to get your talk accepted at DEFCON :) [1] https://shop.hak5.org/collections/physical-access/products/usb-rubber-ducky-deluxe https://shop.hak5.org/collections/physical-access/products/u... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_ANT_catalog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_ANT_catalog
- Scoundreller 7y agoAt that point, just pre-load the cable with a flash drive and copy the malware onboard.
- nixpulvis 7y agoSeeing now why counterfeits are a serious problem for resellers!
- eridius 7y agoOpening up a terminal while the user is actively using their computer is going to be a huge red flag and give the whole game away. Presumably with a local attack, the attacker will wait until the user is distracted or away from their computer before taking control.
- michaelt 7y agoYes, if you did a scattershot attack some users would notice for sure. But if the terminal only flashes up for 100ms, plenty won't notice or will think it was just a glitch.
- misiti3780 7y agoI do not buy electronics on amazon for this very reason.
- reaperducer 7y agoI do not buy electronics on amazon for this very reason. Ditto. Further, I do not buy lightning cables or iPhone chargers from anywhere but an Apple Store. This has been a good idea for years, even before this, when HN was all aflutter about fake chargers frying phones, or with embedded computers that tried to hack your phone.
- judge2020 7y agoBought some a few months ago and my issue is the price premium. $20 for a 1 meter long lightning cable feels like highway robbery but I've never had an issue with them failing so it's worth it.
- lisper 7y agoThink of it as $1 for the cable and $19 for the provenance guarantee.
- 4ntonius8lock 7y agoI've always used premium power cables just because of the possibility of shorts from cheap cables. I wonder what HN thinks of Anker cables? I've always loved them because they are rugged and well made. Though I know they are a Chinese company...
- hiharryhere 7y agoI bought a pack of three Anker lightning cables because of the praise they got here on HN. Unfortunately all three weakened near the connector within a few months to the point where they only intermittently charge. Really disappointing.
- 7y ago
- Proven 7y agoHow can you tell? How can Amazon tell? If you want a legit cable, you can buy it from Apple. Nothing gives you the right to force others - or use the government do that on your behalf - to do something you don't want or cannot do yourself.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ikeboy 7y agoAmazon hasn't allowed unauthorized sellers sell Apple products since January