Who would have imagined that charging a sex toy from a USB plug would lead to this!

Any gadget can be used to introduce malware. One woman had the unpleasant experience of charging her sex toy on her computer.

Almost all of our devices are equipped with a USB port for charging. Users charge their smartphones and other gadgets, not realizing that the most ordinary USB connector can be used to infiltrate danger. Recently, there has been much discussion on the Internet about a case where attackers gained access to financial banking companies by infiltrating the software of electric toothbrushes. And now a new case involves an even more scandalous hack.

A Reddit user recently recounted her misadventure. She had the unpleasant experience of charging her sex toy on her computer. It turned out that her vibrator was infected with malware. The device was equipped with flash memory that could be interacted with through the USB port. When she connected the sex toy to her computer via the device's USB port for refills, she attempted to infect the PC. The incident was reported last week by Malwarebytes, whose antivirus fortunately managed to detect and block the malware.

It turned out that the vibrator was infected with the Lumma Stealer malware, also known as Lumma C2. It has been sold on the Dark Web since 2022 and was designed to attack cryptocurrency wallets, browser extensions, and two-factor authentication (2FA). This virus obtains sensitive information and transfers it to a server controlled by hackers. Specifically, it steals cookies, usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, connection history, and cryptocurrency wallet data. In late 2023, Lumma gained particular attention for being one of the first malware to activate expired session cookies for Google accounts, giving it access not only to a Gmail account, but also to search history and banking data. In short, the story could have ended very badly had the Malwarebytes antivirus not detected and intercepted the malware.

It is not yet known exactly how the malware infected the adult toy. However, its manufacturer has confirmed that the problem is known and is already being investigated. Apparently, this is far from an isolated incident. So be careful with your computer's USB ports when you use it to charge other devices, and in general whenever you charge your devices. Only in the case when you're using a good old-fashioned outlet, there's nothing to worry about, since there's no data transfer while charging. On the other hand, if you absolutely have to use a computer or charge your device in a public or unsecured place through a USB port, we suggest using a USB data blocker to avoid catching a virus. This accessory, which you can get for a few dollars, blocks the data lines so that only electricity flows through them.