---
title: "New USB Cable Contains Tiny Computer That Spies on Everything You Type"
description: "A pseudonymous hacker named MG is selling a USB cable that contains a tiny computer to capture and transmit every single key you type."
date: "2021-09-03"
modified: "2021-09-03"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/usb-cable-spies-everything-type"
categories:
  - "Computers"
  - "Computing"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "cybersecurity"
  - "hackers"
  - "the digest"
---

# New USB Cable Contains Tiny Computer That Spies on Everything You Type

![A pseudonymous hacker named MG is selling a USB cable that contains a tiny computer to capture and transmit every single key you type.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/evilcable.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Futurism\</em\>*

## Plug and Play

Next time you buy a USB cord — or take a free one from a kiosk at an event — you'll want to make sure it doesn't spy on every single thing you type.

A cable that can do just that is now available, thanks to a pseudonymous cybersecurity researcher who goes by MG. MG [told *Motherboard* that](<https://www.vice.com/en/article/k789me/omg-cables-keylogger-usbc-lightning>) the so-called OMG cable looks just like any other, except for a tiny computer that can automatically record every single keystroke you take while it's plugged in and transmit them to a hacker.

"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*.

## Kicking Tires

MG has already started to mass-produce the OMG cable [and sell it](<https://shop.hak5.org/collections/mischief-gadgets/products/o-mg-cable-usb-c>) through the hacking community shop Hak5 — ostensibly for security research purposes rather than anything willfully malicious. As the product listing describes, the cable contains a web server, radio, and tiny processors all hidden within the wire itself.

In a test run, *Motherboard* reporter Joseph Cox used the OMG cable — specifically a USB-C to Lightning cable — to connect his keyboard to his Mac computer. A [demo video](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqnXchka9Ec>) shows a phone running the cable's interface capturing every word that he typed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqnXchka9Ec

MG told *Motherboard* that a hacker can run the interface from any web browser after connecting to the cable's WiFi hotspot — a process that seems [alarmingly straightforward](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hackers-tesla-drone>) for how much information it could expose. Needless to say, Apple, which developed lightning cables, ignored *Motherboard*'s request for comment.

**READ MORE:** [This Seemingly Normal Lightning Cable Will Leak Everything You Type](<https://www.vice.com/en/article/k789me/omg-cables-keylogger-usbc-lightning>) \[*Motherboard*\]

**More on hackers:** *[Electric Vehicle Chargers Are Shockingly Vulnerable To Hacking](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/ev-chargers-vulnerable-hacking>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)