How to spot the difference between the O.MG Cable and a standard USB-A Cable

Written By: Jacob Mehnert
  • Comments: 3
How to spot the difference between the O.MG Cable and a standard USB-A Cable

Difficulty

Very easy

Steps

6

Time Required

No estimate

Introduction

The OM.G Cable is an extremely covert data collection and exfiltration device. This makes it extremely useful to any bad actors who would want to attack an unassuming target. Thankfully the device is easy to spot if you know what you are looking for.

This guide will show you the differences between a standard USB-A cable made by Apple, and the O.MG Cable. All photos have been taken by Adam Baldwin of Evilpacket.com, and are from the Identifying an O.MG Cable article.

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    • If a target wasn't really looking for it, the OM.G Cable is almost identical to Apple's cable.

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    • For starters, Apple does not have any kind of impression in their cable's.

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    • The metal for Apple's cable uses a more matted finish when compared to the OM.G Cable.

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    • The pins for Apple's cable are actually thinner then the OM.G's.

    • The reason for the thicker pins on the OM.G Cable may be due to the cable drawing more power for the covert components.

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    • Flipping over the cables will show that their is also a small notch on the back of the OM.G Cable, just like the front. What we don't see on the back of the OM.G Cable is the seam in the metal.

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    • On the side, we can see that the OM.G Cable does have a seam on the side of the device.

    • Presumably, this is due to the assembly process for the OM.G Cable being different due to the difference in internal components.

Conclusion

While this guide can show you how to identify a malicious OM.G Cable, there are other options for protecting yourself.

The same company that makes this cable also offers a Malicious Cable Detector to help you detect if your cable is malicious. In addition it is also important to use cables from a trusted manufacturer, I.E your device's primary manufacturer.

Additional Information

Author

Jacob Mehnert

Member since: 18/10/21

26523 Reputation

3 comments

Per the manufacturer's website pictures it appears that the the indentation on the USB connector has been eliminated. I have not confirmed this with an actual cable.

Craig -

I have an OMG cable and the dimple is not present and the seam is on the back like the Apple cable.

Will -

I'm wondering if they released an updated one that is harder to distinguish from Apple's cable.

Jacob Mehnert -