There's a loud debate going on as to whether electronic or e-cigarettes are bad for your health. It turns out e-cigarettes can also be bad for your computer.

Surprising new research has proven that charging e-cigarettes on your computer could infect your computer with malware. E-cigarettes have become the latest path for malicious software to make their way to your computers.

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Most e-cigarettes are charged using the USB socket in a computer. This allows cheaply-made e-cigarettes from untrustworthy suppliers to gain access to your device.

A Reddit user reported that he started looking at other malware sources after being hit by malware again and ruling out traditional means of infection.

That's when he became suspicious of the e-cigarette. He noticed e-cigarettes made in China had malware hardcoded into the charger so that when plugged the e-cigarette into a computer's USB port, the malware called home and infected the system.

Rik Ferguson said this is entirely plausible. Working as a security consultant for Trend Micro, he says that "production line malware" has been around for years. He cites one instance in 2008 where a photo frame produced by Samsung was shipped with malware encoded on the product's install disc.

There's also a growing concern about the recent proof-of-concept attack called "BadUSB."

This attack involves reprogramming USB devices at the hardware level.

"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.

Ferguson says if you combine the two, a very strong case could be made for enterprises possibly disabling USB ports in the future. Using device management to allow only authorized devices or running updated anti-malware can also be done.

For e-cigarette users, Dave Goss of London's vape Emporium says they can remain safe by buying from respected manufacturers.

"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," he says.

Tagse-cigarettes, Malware