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They make USB-C cables with displays now

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Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#41

Post by tedunangst »

geepytee wrote: post #31
Izkata wrote: post #23

Look for "power meter" if you want stuff like this. I bought this one a year ago: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B99Z2GJK/ And this one for USB 3.0 four years ago: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019RHJRM8/ Modern ones give a whole lot more information than the one in the article.

Out of curiosity, why did you buy a power meter? Does it help with troubleshooting hardware?

I have a gaming laptop for which noise and heat are directly correlated with power draw, but not always so obviously correlated with graphics settings, and having a power readout on the cable let me see what different low vs medium shadows had, etc.

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#43

Post by lallysingh »

So shall we expect the USB protocol to go encrypted? The USB committee (I don't know their actual name) can act as a root CA.

It doesn't take a lot of compute to encrypt at my typing rate. I'd expect high transfer rate devices to probably already have the hardware (e.g everyone at rest).

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#44

Post by rramadass »

PaulKeeble wrote: post #22

Due to the way the standards for power have gone there is substantial need for owning such a cable! Maybe when everything is USB C PD compatible and tested and works then devices might just charge at the right wattage as they are specified to. Alas so far I have had a lot of devices that refused to charge at anything higher than 7 watts despite USB C on both ends and a modern GAN 100W charger. The power standards for…

> Due to the way the standards for power have gone there is substantial need for owning such a cable!

More than this everybody (and in particular; "the common non-tech person") needs a powerful and feature rich "USB Power Meter". This and knowledge of a couple of equations (eg. P=IV) goes a long way in understanding how good a charger/battery is, how to prevent overheating problems during charging, whether fastcharging can be used and at what capability or not etc.

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#45

Post by stavros »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #30
stavros wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that this will limit you to 5V at 0.5A, if I'm not mistaken.

https://mg.lol/blog/data-blocker-teardown/ The normal PortaPow tells the device that it's a charger. The extra paranoid version with no components on the board will often limit charging, it depends on how the device treats a complete lack of data pins.

Yes, but if you use a data blocker with a microcontroller on it, you've just exchanged one company you need to trust for another.

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#46

Post by duskwuff »

milesvp wrote: post #5
moneywoes wrote: post #2

How do we know if these are doing something else?

Fun fact. Any USB-C cable that needs to handle higher wattage than 5V@3A has circuitry that talks on the CC line to let the source know it’s not going to melt.

The threshold is higher than that. Passive USB-C cables can do up to 20V @ 3A (60W). Electronically marked cables are only required for higher power profiles.

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#47

Post by doe_eyes »

quotemstr wrote: post #40
transpute wrote: post #11

For comparison, a "something else" cable without display: https://shop.hak5.org/products/omg-cable > The O.MG Cable is a hand made USB cable with an advanced implant hidden inside. It is designed to allow your Red Team to emulate attack scenarios of sophisticated adversaries. Until now, a cable like this would cost $20,000 (ex: COTTONMOUTH-I). These cables will allow you to test new detection opportunities for your d…

> Due to the advanced capabilities of the O.MG Cable, regulations require that they are shipped "deactivated" Which "regulations" might those be?

Probably some Paypal or AdWords ToS with their vague prohibitions on "hacking tools".

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#48

Post by creatonez »

i_have_to_speak wrote: post #14

> The paranoid side of me suspects that a cable like this one would be an ideal place to hide a malicious chip. Why hide a malicious chip in a cable with display -- why not in one without a display? Wouldn't that be more, uh, malicious?

I guess you can exfiltrate any data to nearby security cameras by randomly flashing sensitive bits every once in a while :)

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#49

Post by rramadass »

vinnyvichy wrote: post #37
Izkata wrote: post #23

Look for "power meter" if you want stuff like this. I bought this one a year ago: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B99Z2GJK/ And this one for USB 3.0 four years ago: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019RHJRM8/ Modern ones give a whole lot more information than the one in the article.

Some? Most? All? of them have extensible/externalizable Lua logging/scripting capabilities? https://www.avhzy.com/html/product-detail/avhzy-c3-usb-c-3-1... >PC suite for advanced online data logging, PD listening, online fast-charge trigger, and firmware upgrade.

+1.

This is a great and powerful USB power meter which is highly recommended. Make sure that you read and keep the manual handy since there are so many functions (and heed the warnings listed there). There are other cheaper versions/clones of this on Aliexpress which may also be good.

Another great gadget (no USB-C though) is "PortaPow Premium USB + DC Power Monitor/Multimeter/DC Ammeter" which is a neat little device - https://lygte-info.dk/review/USBmeter%20Portapow%20UK.html Checkout the reviews on Amazon too for further details.

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#50

Post by kmoser »

infectoid wrote: post #7
moneywoes wrote: post #2

How do we know if these are doing something else?

If power is all you are looking for you can always play it safe with a USB Condom. e.g https://www.amazon.com.au/s?k=PortaPow

Assuming you trust that device to not be malicious. It's turtles all the way down.
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