Free Software Will Help Detect Faulty and Malicious USB-C Cables

Posted by msmash on Wednesday April 13, 2016 @03:20AM from the say-no-to-bad-cables-and-accessories dept.

Reader Mickeycaskill writes: The USB 3.0 Promoter Group, of which HP, Intel and Microsoft are members, has developed authentication protocols for USB-C and will offer free software to detect faulty or malicious cables.This tool will alert users if they are using a non-authenticated cable. It has been suggested that hardware manufacturers could ship devices with an authentication system already installed. It is hoped that the specification will help end a number of recent incidents where sub-standard cables have either ripped off buyers or damaged devices. Most recently, Amazon said it would be adding USB-C cables and adapters that do not comply with standard regulations to its list of prohibited electronics items.

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Is it worth it? by Hentes · 2016-04-13 04:14 · Score: 4, Insightful

USB has become succesful because it was cheap and simple to use and cheap and simple to manufacture. It seems to me that USB-C is getting further and further away from that by the day. Maybe different use cases require different solutions, maybe there is no such thing as a 'one universal cable' that can combine the advantages of all the others without the disadvantages. It seems like USB just wanted to replace lightning on Apple stuff, and does not care about PC users who don't have a fortune to waste on a piece of wire. Which is not even just wire anymore, it contains its own electronics, losing all the elegance and simplicity tha made USB great.