Rik Ferguson, a security consultant for Trend Micro, says the story is entirely plausible, and that it has already infected many household gadgets.
'Production line malware has been around for a few years, infecting photo frames, MP3 players and more,' he told the Guardian.
A recent proof-of-concept attack called 'BadUSB', which involves reprogramming USB devices at the hardware level, meaning 'safe' gadget could be turned into hacking tools.
'Very widely spread USB controller chips, including those in thumb drives, have no protection from such reprogramming,' says Berlin-based firm SRLabs, which released the code.
'This versatility is also USB’s Achilles heel: Since different device classes can plug into the same connectors, one type of device can turn into a more capable or malicious type without the user noticing,' it claims.
'No effective defenses from USB attacks are known.
'Once infected, computers and their USB peripherals can never be trusted again.
Photo: Getty Images
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