Now Cyber Criminals Use E-cigarettes To Spread Malware

 

Now Cyber Criminals Use E-cigarettes To Spread Malware Many health specialists may be pushing the chain smokers in the world for E-cigarettes over normal tobacco ones. The smokers may not be embracing E-cigarettes wholeheartedly but there is one group who does. Yes, cyber criminals have take a special liking to the E-cigarettes and now electronic cigarettes have become the latest vector for injecting malware. How is E-cigarette being used The E-cigarettes have to be charged over USB, either with a special custom cable, or by plugging the cigarette itself directly into a USB port. The ones that come with the USB port charging are the one that are fast becoming a favourite threat vector for the cyber criminals. The malware is apparently hardcoded into the charger for these E-cigarettes and as soon as its hooked to a PC they start their malicious work. For one they are inconspicuous, who the hell would think that a puny E-cigarette might be carrying a malware. The second point is that the USB port allows the cyber criminals to physically access your device. Vapourizer The use of E-cigarette for injecting malware first surfaced on Reddit. A redditor, Jockrilla posted the below comment on Reddit and that started the things moving I have a story I wanted to share about a data security breach at a large corporation. One particular executive had a malware infection on his computer from which the source could not be determined. The executive’s system was patched up to date, had antivirus and up to date anti-malware protection. Web logs were scoured and all attempts made to identify the source of the infection but to no avail. Finally after all traditional means of infection were covered; IT started looking into other possibilities. They finally asked the Executive, “Have there been any changes in your life recently”? The executive answer “Well yes, I quit smoking two weeks ago and switched to e-cigarettes”. And that was the answer they were looking for, the made in china e-cigarette had malware hard coded into the charger and when plugged into a computer’s USB port the malware phoned home and infected the system. Moral of the story is have you ever question the legitimacy of the $5 dollar EBay made in China USB item that you just plugged into your computer? Because you should, you damn well should. Sincerely, An IT guy See more at: http://www.techworm.net/…/…/e-cigarettes-spread-malware.html