A Reddit user named VegetableLuck discovered and shared a PC malware hidden in the controller electronics of an adult gadget’s charging unit. Malware code began to be studied by experts.

“I bought a small vibrator at Spencer’s. It has a removable cover and a USB port for charging, so it’s literally a flash drive with a vibrator. I connected it to the computer for charging without thinking. Opened my web browser and the file instantly downloaded without opening any web pages and Malwarebytes immediately flagged it as malware and stopped the download.

Here is an example of this file to download from the download link: WARNING! THIS IS A MALWARE DOWNLOAD LINK.

Are there any professionals here who could check it and tell me what it was?”, the buyer of the gadget asked the experts.

VirusTotal’s report on this incident:

“I wrote here to find out if I’m safe? Malwarebytes stopped the download, the folder was still in my downloads, but there was just an empty folder name on the right. Malware scan doesn’t show anything either and so far everything is fine with the PC, is there anything else I should do / check? “, – asked VegetableLuck.

In the comments to the request for help, Reddit users explained that the store probably bought a batch of devices in China, but did not test them to connect to a PC. The user was also strongly advised to charge such devices only from individual power supplies without data transmission. As a result, experts found out that part of the malicious code was used for botnet and deployment of various ransomware on the victim’s PC.

Other users’ responses to this incident:

• some guy from china is now controlling your vibrator remotely, enjoy;

• a new hack unlocked (and the plot of a new low-budget teen horror parody);

• now it will only work for the Chinese national anthem;

• I find it amazing that we’ve gotten to the point where people put malware in things like vibrators;

• in the evening after work I will try to learn the code. I’m curious to know what the purpose of spreading malware through vibrators was and who might actually have done it. I assume it has something to do with spying and getting photos and videos;

• this is a debug version of the ransomware;

• any chance you can share the make/model? I want to look into it more, but I’m not desperate enough to buy a used vibrator from someone on reddit, lol;

• this is what I call penetration testing;

• vibrator botnet 😭;

• lol doom vibrator. Hopefully you managed to use it before you plugged it in;

• this was one of the best posts i’ve seen on reddit with an even better thread lol. A virus on a mechanical member;

• you need to wipe the OS and reinstall. This is going to sound harsh, but running unknown, most likely malicious code on your everyday operating system is absolutely ridiculous, it’s one of the dumbest things you can do. Please don’t ever do that again;

• this is further confirmation of the “never plug ANY strange USB device into your computer” advice;

• time to castrate the vibrator! Pull out the data pins;

• now if you have malware installed on your computer… who knows what you’ll get infected with. Hahaha;

• the moral of the story is that protecting yourself from unwanted intrusion sometimes leads to other intruders. Remember that you can catch the virus in any case.