Index – Economy – We can no longer trust mobile chargers



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How about a borrowed iPhone or iPad charging cable, say at a hotel reception, or even at the airport, capable of stealing and downloading all the information on our phone or tablet, and then sending it directly to the air with its own Integrated radio station rubbing hacker to shoot your machine?

Sound stupid? It is not!

Also, anyone can buy something like that legally. The O.MG cable is called a nifty pun, OMG (Oh My God), and runs on the monogram of the inventor, Mike Grover, and the initials of the word “Offensive.” The first version of the product was launched last year.

At that time, even the attentive observer could have distinguished the cunning data stealing device from the factory USB charging cable, but now a second version has appeared, which is practically indistinguishable from the real one. “I worked a lot on version 2.0!” – said Mike Grover – “I increased the storage space and now

It is exactly the same size and weight as the original.

So if we borrow a charger from an unfamiliar or perhaps unsuspecting friend than, for example, a former one from a generous hotel receptionist, perhaps a helpful stranger at the train station, it could easily happen that our data, passwords, or even photos hurt .

We connect the cable to our phone, possibly our tablet, which from now on keeps track of every character we type, installs spyware, or takes control of all the devices connected to us.

The scariest thing is that until now, devices like this and the like could be obtained mainly from the dark web, from illegal sources, in a relatively complicated way, but now

anyone can buy it without further ado

from the manufacturer’s website. The price is not too high, it is 120 dollars, that is about 35,000 florins.

By the way, the inventor, according to his own statement, does not want to help hackers, but recommends his product for cybersecurity training, to raise awareness of the dangers that await unsuspecting users.

Today, almost everything is hacked, from smart TVs, smart refrigerators, even smart light bulbs.

The development of the O.MG cable has not stopped, it has been completed in both USB C and micro USB versions. The only good news is that it’s relatively easy to protect yourself from a data stealing charging cable – use our own charger!

“I can only confirm that the safest solution is to use our own USB cable and charger,” says cybersecurity expert Tamás Kocsis. Alternatively, on more modern Android and iOS devices, you can set it to only charge when connected via USB / Lightning.

Those who may not trust the function of the operating system, can only buy (or even manufacture) charging cables, or who are often forced to charge their devices from third-party devices, it is recommended to use “USB Condom”, this is an adapter that only consumes power. It allows.

This can be a bit overwhelming for Iphone devices, but for Android devices, you can buy a data lock cable or adapter for as little as $ 4. Of course, once we forget our charger at home, the question arises, did we bring the data blocker with us? Probably the safest solution is to apply the principle of marriage to USB or Lightning connections and not look for external connection points. “



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