Here are some of them Mr. Robot-level intrigue for you: imagine a harmless-looking USB-Lightning cable that, once connected to your machine, helps hackers steal all data from your iPhone and inject malware into your device. If this sounds like a crazy TV show, it’s a surprise.
Large plate he wrote recently about such a complicated little product, sold by a cybersecurity company Hak5 and named “OMG cable” by its inventor, security researcher MG. The cable, which looks almost exactly like an Apple Lightning cable and is sold in a USB-C or USB-A format, is charged with a hidden chip and allows the user to remotely steal data or deploy malicious software to MacBooks, iPads and iPhones. The product, to which a previous demonstration was made the cyber conference DEFCON in 2019, is used as a penetration test tool, according to Vice.
How it works: Once connected, the OMG basically sets up a wifi access point to which a remote user can connect. From here, an online interface that includes the product allows the hacker to record and record activity from the target device. According to Hak5, the keylogger records up to 650,000 keystrokes. The company describes it as “built for covert use of the field, with features that enhance remote execution, stealth, and forensic evasion, although they can quickly change their tools on the fly.”
There are a lot of videos on YouTube that tell you how everything works. As an example, here is one from technical vlogger David Bombal:
Of course, you can imagine some pretty nefarious scenarios involving this product. For a spy to hack you, all they really have to do is wait for you to go to the bathroom of a coffee shop and then exchange your real Lightning cable for the OMG. From here, it’s just a bit of a remote setup to retrieve all your data to your own server.
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Although its functionality has a limited geographical scope, it seems to work at a fairly good distance. “We tested it in downtown Oakland and were able to bring in payloads over a mile,” MG told Motherboard.
Yes, awesome, but also yikes. In short: keep your ports safe and secure.