We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable • Hacker News Board

Re: We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable

#51

Post by fc417fc802 » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:57 AM UTC

invokestatic wrote: post #32

userbinator wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want Boot Guard or any of that DRM crap. I want freedom. I want to make a persistent implant/malware that survives OS reinstalls. Look up Absolute Computrace Persistence. It's there by default in a lot of BIOS images, but won't survive a BIOS reflash with an image that has the module stripped out (unless you have the "security" of Boot Guard, which will effectively make this malware mandatory!) I’m more inter…

Well, this project is literally about me circumventing/removing Boot Guard so I don’t know how it’s corporate authoritarianism. I’m literally getting rid of it. In doing so I get complete control of the BIOS/firmware down to the reset vector. I can disable ME. To me, that’s ultimate freedom. As a power user, do I want boot guard on my personal PC? Honestly, no. And we’re in luck because a huge amount of consumer moth…

I want an equivalent of boot guard that I hold the keys to. Presented only with a binary choice certainly having boot guard is better than not having it if physical device security is in question. But that ought to be a false dichotomy. Regulation has failed us here.

Re: We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable

#52

Post by avadodin » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 7:48 AM UTC

I couldn't tell a thing about the naqqadah resistor positron-brain whattamajig on the right answer but the wrong answer looked too neat for something actual people would design.

Re: We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable

#53

Post by DeathArrow » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 7:49 AM UTC

woleium wrote: post #26

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #21

To be fair, this story is basically an ad, but a pretty good one, and many featured HN stories are really marketing. Personally, I don’t mind marketing stuff, if it’s interesting and relevant (like this). But the fact that most comms cables, these days, have integrated chips, makes for a dangerous trust landscape. That’s something that we’ve known for quite some time. BTW: I “got it right,” but not because of the che…

My apple thunderbolt 4 cable has a computer more powerful than my firs computer in it (ARM Cortex‑M0 core running at up to 48 MHz vs a 286 at 25mhz)

Probably there is someone somewhere trying to make Linux boot on a thunderbolt cable.

Re: We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable

#54

Post by ssl-3 » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 7:51 AM UTC

shagie wrote: post #46

woleium wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My apple thunderbolt 4 cable has a computer more powerful than my firs computer in it (ARM Cortex‑M0 core running at up to 48 MHz vs a 286 at 25mhz)

That tickled a memory of a video... and I hunted it up. Adam Savage's Tested : Look Inside Apple's $130 USB-C Cable - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD5aAd8Oy84 (1 minute in "we've been saying that our phones have more computing power than the Apollo guidance computer but I'm positive now that this cable has more computing power than the Apollo guidance computer") That video is a look at cables (not just Apple's) wi…

Lumifield quite recently showed on Adam Savage's Tested again, with some literal insights on a reasonably-diverse array of different 18650 cells: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD5aAd8Oy84

It's a good watch, and I learned some new stuff about some things that I only knew a little bit about before.

Re: We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable

#55

Post by tamimio » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 8:16 AM UTC

Interesting, not too useful as I doubt most of the readers here have that Xray machine.

I remember years ago I had similar issue, I got one of those FTDI USB cable to interfere with a drone payload, and it was simpler to just plug in the USB cable into the jetson rather than having a small exposed circuit around, but I ended up having performance issues and interruptions that eventually I replaced it with traditional FTDI exposed circuit, I still have the cable till now but I don’t have the X ray machine to check!

Re: We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable

#56

Post by MiiMe19 » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 8:43 AM UTC

The bottom one is suspicious because it is bigger !!!!!

Re: We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable

#57

Post by Yoric » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 8:58 AM UTC

DeathArrow wrote: post #53

woleium wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My apple thunderbolt 4 cable has a computer more powerful than my firs computer in it (ARM Cortex‑M0 core running at up to 48 MHz vs a 286 at 25mhz)

Probably there is someone somewhere trying to make Linux boot on a thunderbolt cable.

Or Doom.

Re: We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable

#58

Post by dotancohen » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 10:14 AM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #49

dotancohen wrote: post #42

The suspect cable actually seemed to have better strain relief for wire connections and more solder on the USB A connector (transfers mechanical stress better), even though the author pointed them out as features of the authentic cable.

That tangle is not strain relief. Those wires are buried in injection-molded plastic. Pull on them and those loops will not stretch as they are in solid plastic. What they will do is potentially result in unwanted cross-talk between wires as loops start acting as antennas.

Thank you. If I may, is injection molded plastic not solid plastic? To many potential voids?

Re: We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable

#59

Post by pm215 » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 10:22 AM UTC

woleium wrote: post #26

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #21

To be fair, this story is basically an ad, but a pretty good one, and many featured HN stories are really marketing. Personally, I don’t mind marketing stuff, if it’s interesting and relevant (like this). But the fact that most comms cables, these days, have integrated chips, makes for a dangerous trust landscape. That’s something that we’ve known for quite some time. BTW: I “got it right,” but not because of the che…

My apple thunderbolt 4 cable has a computer more powerful than my firs computer in it (ARM Cortex‑M0 core running at up to 48 MHz vs a 286 at 25mhz)

The fun thing about those thunderbolt cables is they have two Arm cores in them, one at each end...

Re: We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable

#60

Post by the_biot » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 10:59 AM UTC

nanolith wrote: post #29

I could spot the clone because I'm familiar with the form factor of the FTDI IC, and I'm familiar enough with the datasheet to spot the expected passives. I'm not too keen these days with FTDI's reputation for manipulating their Windows device drivers to brick clones. So, while I'm familiar with their IC, I don't give them any more money. The next time I need a USB to serial cable, I'll bust out KiCad to build it usi…

I think that's what happened here. I spotted the fake because it has a large number of unused pins, which would not be the case with an FTDI chip that was literally made for this.

I think it's just some generic microcontroller emulating FTDI's protocol in software, but it can't keep up with high-speed transfers of course, and that's how they noticed there was a problem.