E-Cigarette chargers can give your computer a virus?

[DreadPirateRoberts]

E-cigarettes have become the latest vector for hackers to distribute malicious software. E-cigarettes manufactured in China are reportedly being used to spread malware via a USB port to computers when users plug in for charging it up. Further investigating the matter, he found that the chargers of the e-cigarettes - bought from the online auction site eBay for $5 - are hard-coded with the malware that infected his workstation despite having latest virus and anti malware programs installed.

 

Source: http://thehackernews.com/2014/11/china-made-e-cigarette-chargers-could_26.html

[Krome]

E-cig gives your computer cancer :laugh:

[Tidosho]

The damn black market Chinese are nothing but big pains in the ass. The amount of counterfeit crap et al that comes out of that country (and allowed by eBay to be sold en masse without punishment, hypocrites that they are pretending to care about buyers) makes me sick.

 

The sooner these sinister fake Chinese companies DIE the better. They just cause unnecessary pain and suffering while laughing all the way to the bank, along with eBay and PayPal. Two lessons from this:

 

1. Don't use eBay for anything other than selling (it's got so bad I don't buy from it anymore)

 

2. Use genuine e-cig manufacturers for parts in proper e-cig specialist shops, and not the company mentioned in No.1 above, or Amazon, over the internet.

 

At work we now only buy computer and electronics components from manufacturers because eBay has become so flooded with crap. It costs more but saves logistics nightmares.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

As far as I know, the exact brand and model of e-cigarette charger has never been identified, nor has the malware it allegedly deployed.

 

I think at this point it is probably more of an urban myth than anything else.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky