A Lightning Cable That Leaks Everything You Type

It  looks like a Lightning cable, it works like a Lightning cable, and I  can use it to connect my keyboard to my Mac. But it is actually a  malicious cable that can record everything I type, including passwords,  and wirelessly send that data to a hacker who could be more than a mile  away.

This  is the new version of a series of penetration testing tools made by the  security researcher known as MG. MG previously demoed an earlier version of the cables for Motherboard at the DEF CON hacking conference in 2019. Shortly after that, MG said he had successfully moved the cables into mass production, and cybersecurity vendor Hak5 started selling the cables.

But  the more recent cables come in new physical variations, including  Lightning to USB-C, and include more capabilities for hackers to play  with. "There  were people who said that Type C cables were safe from this type of  implant because there isn't enough space. So, clearly, I had to prove  that wrong. :)," MG told Motherboard in an online chat.

The  OMG Cables, as they're called, work by creating a Wi-Fi hotspot itself  that a hacker can connect to from their own device. From here, an  interface in an ordinary web browser lets the hacker start recording  keystrokes. The malicious implant itself takes up around half the length  of the plastic shell, MG said. The new cables now have geofencing features, where a user can  trigger or block the device's payloads based on the physical location  of the cable.

"It  pairs well with the self-destruct feature if an OMG Cable leaves the  scope of your engagement and you do not want your payloads leaking or  being accidentally run against random computers," he said.

Motherboard only tested the cables in relatively close proximity, but MG said they've improved the range of the cables.

"We tested this out in downtown Oakland and were able to trigger payloads at over 1 mile," he added.

He  said that the Type C cables allow the same sort of attacks to be  carried out against smartphones and tablets. Various other improvements  include being able to change keyboard mappings, the ability to forge the  identity of specific USB devices, such as pretending to be a device  that leverages a particular vulnerability on a system.

Apple  did not respond to a request for comment. The set of cables MG provided  to Motherboard for testing purposes also included a black USB-C to  USB-C cable, which would be designed to mimic cables related to  different, non-Apple products.

The ongoing pandemic has also complicated the manufacturing process for the cables, MG explained.

"The  pandemic has made an already difficult process much more difficult with  the chip shortage. If any individual component is out of stock, it is  basically impossible to find a replacement when fractions of millimeters  are important. So I just have to wait 12+ months for certain parts to  be in stock," MG told Motherboard in an online chat. "We will easily  lose $10k in cables when testing a process change. During the chip  shortage, it's hard not to look at a loss like that and see a whole  bunch of dead components that cannot be replaced for over a year."