Remember the Lightning cable that that appears to be an innocent Lightning cable, but can offer hackers a way to remotely access your computer? While that cable was a handmade one-off, Motherboard reports the cables are now factory-made.
A security researcher named MG demonstrated the cable and its abilities to Motherboard back in August. The cables, which are called O.MG Cables, are OEM Lightning cables, direct from Apple, that have been opened and modified to install additional components. The modifications are indetectable to the naked eye, and there is no way to tell the hacked cable from the original.
The publication says MG now tells them that the cables have now been manufactured in a factory, enabling mass production of the dangerous little devils.
Soon it may be easier to get your hands on a cable that looks just like a legitimate Apple lightning cable, but which actually lets you remotely take over a computer. The security researcher behind the recently developed tool announced over the weekend that the cable has been successfully made in a factory […]
MG is the creator of the O.MG Cable. It charges phones and transfers data in the same way an Apple cable does, but it also contains a wireless hotspot that a hacker can connect to. Once they’ve done that, a hacker can run commands on the computer, potentially rummaging through a victim’s files, for instance.
After demoing the cable for Motherboard at the Def Con hacking conference this summer, MG said, “It’s like being able to sit at the keyboard and mouse of the victim but without actually being there.”
At the time, MG was selling the handmade cables at the conference for $200 each. Now that production process has been streamlined.
Here’s hoping MG is careful about who he sells these cables to. Sure, $200 per cable is a high price, but for someone looking to get their hands on data from a large group of specific users, it’s a small price to pay.
