A user on social news site Reddit claims that electronic cigarettes may do more damage to your laptop than your lungs.
The report suggests that this issue stems from the cigarette's ability to be charged via USB (both with a special cable or being plugged into a USB port), more specifically USB ports on a computer, according to The Guardian.
The idea is that a cheap e-cigarette provided by an unreliable supplier can cause problems for a laptop if the e-cig is connected to it, and the Reddit user said there is at least one "vaper" that has gone through this same experience.
"One particular executive had a malware infection on his computer from which the source could not be determined," the user wrote. "After all traditional means of infection were covered, IT started looking into other possibilities."
The executive was from a "large corporation" that was not named, Neowin reported. The IT worker asked the executive about any recent lifestyle changes he could have made, to which the executive talked about quitting smoking two weeks earlier and using e-cigarettes instead.
The "made in China" $5 e-cigarette the executive bought on eBay turned out to be the culprit, as its charger was loaded with malware that copied itself into the executive's computer and infected the system after being plugged in.
While the authenticity of the Reddit report has yet to be determined, Rik Ferguson, a security consultant for Trend Micro, said the incident is plausible since production line malware has been infecting photo frames, MP3 players and other devices for years, The Guardian reported. Even one of Samsung's photo frames produced in 2008 came with malware on its install disc.
Dave Goss, of London's Vape Emporium, says buying from Aspire, Innokin, KangerTech and other trusted e-cigarette makers can prevent computers from being infected. He also recommended checking for "scratch checkers" on the box, which separate authentic goods from counterfeits.
"Any electrical device that uses a USB charger could be targeted in this way, and just about every one of these electrical devices will come from China," Goss said.
