Two Lightning cables that are nothing special. Overseas YouTuber Arun Maini asked a friend, “Do you know which one is the real one?” He chose one without hesitation.
However, the Lightning cable that my friend chose is called the “O.MG cable” and is a very dangerous silo used for hardware attacks.
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“O.MG cable” that will be hacked just by inserting it into the iPhone
There are many types of this hacking tool. For example, here is “O.MG plug” shaped like a USB memory.
According to Maini, modern devices are well protected for downloads and communications from the internet, but there are vulnerabilities in hardware connections.
Of course, unknown devices and dangerous things are detected, but just by disguising the vendor ID and product ID of this “O.MG plug”, the Mac will mistake it for a genuine Apple device.
And inside this O.MG plug is a WiFi chip. In other words, it is possible to remotely control the Mac by mistaking it as a genuine keyboard and sending communication to the O.MG plug. In addition, the distance that can be operated is 2 km.
As a test, Maini sneaked an O.MG plug into the channel’s video editor’s Mac. He’s so into video editing that he’s totally oblivious.
After a while, his Mac suddenly started playing YouTube videos. It seems that he did not notice that this plug was inserted until Mr. Maini, who performed remote control, confirmed it.
This is just a prank, but in reality O.MG plugs are atrocious. If this USB plug is inserted at the moment when you make eye contact, you can change the administrator authority and take away the access authority.
Furthermore, with the “O.MG cable”, iPhone users can “connect by themselves”. The appearance of the O.MG cable is the same as the original Lightning cable, so you can’t tell if you’re using it. In fact, even when Mr. Maini secretly replaced the photographer’s Lightning cable, he continued to use it without realizing it.
And the most troublesome thing is that this “O.MG cable” has a “self-destruct function”. Simply enter “SELF DESTRUCT” remotely to destroy the internal memory and destroy evidence.
Furthermore, it is even possible to “make it unusable as a cable”. Many people throw away broken cables immediately, leaving no evidence.
According to Maini, certain O.MG devices can even extract credit card passwords by monitoring input. Since you can also enter it, it seems that you can change your password and even hijack your account.
Of course, it is a crime to carry out hardware attacks and hacks on such devices. But Maini points out that there are benefits to having such a device.
For example, law enforcement might be able to use this to catch criminals. Such devices can also be used by businesses to enhance their own protection.
In order not to be damaged by such hacking tools, it is important not to easily use cables of unknown manufacturers or cables of others. The company that sells this hacking tool also sells a device that identifies O.MG cables.