Posted October 23, 2018 A while back my mother and I where in the car bringing my sister back from a doctors appointment, and I had brought the charger to my iPad witch was from a 3rd party manufacturer( I got it from dollar general ) I brought mine because she usually forgets hers and when she asked me to plug her phone in I went to plug her iPhone in to my charger and she said stop .......... so I stopped and then she asked if that was her charger that came from apple and I said no it was mine then she said do not plug her phone in ( it was at 13%) I asked why and she told me and I quote “ I read somewhere on the internet that iPhone chargers have virus on them and they said to only use your apple charger.” ......... what. I’m not a computer god and I don’t claim to know a lot about any type of electronic device including charger. But I’m pretty sure that if this was true that millions of iPhone would be infected due to how often apple chargers break and I’m almost positive that what she read was some dumb clickbait on a news website. Please help me find the article she “read” and tell me if there’s any way this is possible. Sorry for bad grammar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 23, 2018 You've both misunderstood things. 3rd-party chargers definitely CAN try to upload viruses/malware/etc. to your devices and there have been cases where e.g. the publicly-accessible chargers at airports have done exactly this. It doesn't mean that EVERY 3rd-party charger will do it, however. Hand, n. A singular instrument worn at the end of the human arm and commonly thrust into somebody’s pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 23, 2018 I've used laptops, gas station car chargers, an Anker 5 port brick I got off Amazon, the Apple blocks, Samsung blocks, all sorts of things and never had an issue with "viruses" coming through my charger. Should be fine. Intel HEDT and Server platform enthusiasts: Intel HEDT Xeon/i7 Megathread Main PC CPU: i9 7980XE @4.5GHz/1.22v/-2 AVX offset Cooler: EKWB Supremacy Block - custom loop w/360mm +280mm rads Motherboard: EVGA X299 Dark RAM:4x8GB HyperX Predator DDR4 @3200Mhz CL16 GPU: Nvidia FE 2060 Super/Corsair HydroX 2070 FE block Storage: 1TB MP34 + 1TB 970 Evo + 500GB Atom30 + 250GB 960 Evo Optical Drives: LG WH14NS40 PSU: EVGA 1600W T2 Case & Fans: Corsair 750D Airflow - 3x Noctua iPPC NF-F12 + 4x Noctua iPPC NF-A14 PWM OS: Windows 11 Display: LG 27UK650-W (4K 60Hz IPS panel) Mouse: EVGA X17 Keyboard: Corsair K55 RGB Mobile/Work Devices: 2020 M1 MacBook Air (work computer) - iPhone 13 Pro Max - Apple Watch S3 Other Misc Devices: iPod Video (Gen 5.5E, 128GB SD card swap, running Rockbox), Nintendo Switch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 23, 2018 some chinese or just third party in general devices and even cables have been known malicious chips in embedded in them that can communicate with your phone and do things such as send your data to other places that you don't want it to be sent. This is why apple implemented the "do you trust this device" prompt when you plug your phone into something that has a data connection. You could always hit no on the prompt though and it'll block data flow. "If a Lobster is a fish because it moves by jumping, then a kangaroo is a bird" - Admiral Paulo de Castro Moreira da Silva "There is nothing more difficult than fixing something that isn't all the way broken yet." - Author Unknown Spoiler Intel Core i7-3960X @ 4.6 GHz - Asus P9X79WS/IPMI - 12GB DDR3-1600 quad-channel - EVGA GTX 1080ti SC - Fractal Design Define R5 - 500GB Crucial MX200 - NH-D15 - Logitech G710+ - Mionix Naos 7000 - Sennheiser PC350 w/Topping VX-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 23, 2018 A run of a mill charger is usually not a security issue. It's publicly "available" charging stations that may or may not have been hijacked and have had extra circuitry added to steal data. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/free-charging-stations-can-hack-your-phone-heres-how-protect-yourself/ https://www.techradar.com/news/hackers-could-hijack-devices-using-a-laptops-usb-c-charger The issue is that USB standards are used for both power delivery and data transfer. If a "charger" has extra non-power circuitry, it could in fact hijack some phones/laptops AMD Ryzen 3950x under a Noctua D15S, 32 Gb G Skill FlareX 3200 DDR4 running at 3200 CL14, Gigabyte Aorus Pro 570 Wifi, Gigabyte 2070 Super hooked to a Dell U2718Q 4k HDR monitor & an Acer 1440p 144hz IPS panel of some kind, an Inland 1 TB M.2 PCIE 4 main drive, a Samsung NVME M.2 250Gb, WD Blue 500Gb and 1 TB SSDs, Corsair RMX750, Rainbows and butterflies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 23, 2018 the first result on google is this article from 5 YEARS ago https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/ios-charger-malware-possible/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 23, 2018 Author And just to be clear I was talking about the cable sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 23, 2018 3 minutes ago, Budddy27 said: And just to be clear I was talking about the cable sorry A cable with malware. No. Just no. it's time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 23, 2018 6 minutes ago, RollTime said: A cable with malware. No. Just no. It is possible. But if you're that worried, I'd get a custom made USB condom which inserts into the female port but doesn't have pads for data transfer. So it only transfers power to the device. Corsair 4000D RGB Asus B550 Tuf Gaming II Asus 7700XT Tuf Gaming AMD 5600x3d 32gb 3200mhz gskil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 24, 2018 7 hours ago, aki adaki said: It is possible. But if you're that worried, I'd get a custom made USB condom which inserts into the female port but doesn't have pads for data transfer. So it only transfers power to the device. When I first read the words "USB condom" I was certain you were joking... I'm still not entirely sure... And how is it possible exactly? You'd need something capable of USB connection (because to even access data on phones nowadays you have to click "trust" and something needs to request access) and the smallest thing I can think of to do that is a Raspberry Pi mini. Even some custom-made item would simply be too big to fit anywhere in a cable. A charger or brick? Sure. A cable? No. it's time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 24, 2018 20 minutes ago, RollTime said: When I first read the words "USB condom" I was certain you were joking... I'm still not entirely sure... And how is it possible exactly? You'd need something capable of USB connection (because to even access data on phones nowadays you have to click "trust" and something needs to request access) and the smallest thing I can think of to do that is a Raspberry Pi mini. Even some custom-made item would simply be too big to fit anywhere in a cable. A charger or brick? Sure. A cable? No. Nope, not quite. The one I've seen was smaller, but not made anymore unless you custom order pcb's and solder it yourself https://int3.cc/products/usbcondoms Corsair 4000D RGB Asus B550 Tuf Gaming II Asus 7700XT Tuf Gaming AMD 5600x3d 32gb 3200mhz gskil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 24, 2018 The problem with 3rd party cheap chargers are bad terrible power supply's that can destroy the phone. iOS has software level protection for the Lightning connector. (if you connect it to a computer is asked, do you trust this device). that only shows up when the device is unlocked. if the device is unlocked. the port goes in to charging only mode Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 24, 2018 17 hours ago, WereCatf said: You've both misunderstood things. 3rd-party chargers definitely CAN try to upload viruses/malware/etc. to your devices and there have been cases where e.g. the publicly-accessible chargers at airports have done exactly this. It doesn't mean that EVERY 3rd-party charger will do it, however. Yep, possible, but have not heard of it happening yet. The biggest risk is a broken/poor/dangerously made charger. iPhones and many modern smartphones need a lot of power, and poor parts can get hot, melt or explode. So making sure it's a well built charger and cable is best. How to check? That's hard. Obviously Apple will try their best, and so do some other companies. Also, "USB sticks/drives" are mainly the ones that have viruses. So perhaps they got the 2 stories muddled up? Lots of criminals or pranksters drop USB sticks/drives about, as they are really cheap, and people are silly and plug them into PCs. Then turns out the criminal/prankster put viruses on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now