Have you ever borrowed a friend’s charging cable? Maybe a complete stranger when you were at a coffee shop? If so, you need to keep reading.
Last month, a computer security researcher named Mike Grover, who goes by MG online, made a charging cable that can be used to hijack a computer. This device, named the O.MG Cable, looks like any other USB charging cable for smartphones and electronic devices.
How It Works
This O.MG charging cable can be plugged into any computer with a USB port, including Mac and Windows computers. Once connected, it will allow a hacker to access a computer and to execute commands on the computer over Wi-Fi.
They can take control of the computer by instructing it to open up files and click on everything you can see on your screen.
Your computer’s operating system also detects this hacking cable as an ordinary input device similar to the way you’d connect a USB keyboard or mouse.
What’s more, MG also built a feature into this cable that will hide any evidence that your computer has been hacked!
What Does This Mean for You?
With new technologies being released every day, hackers are also coming up with new and improved methods to take control of your computer.
With the introduction of this charging cable at a hacking conference in Las Vegas this summer, ethical hackers (people who help computer programmers look for security holes in a software program) are warning people to beware of using a stranger’s charging cable.
Luckily, due to the nature of these charging cables, it is difficult for the hacker to make a wide-scale attack and infect millions of computers with it. However, it can be used for targeted attacks especially when these cables are masqueraded as gifts meant for a specific person.
The best way to protect yourself is to only use your own charging cables or purchase them from a reputable source. And of course, keep yourself updated on the latest computer security news by checking our FixMeStick blog each week!
27 comments