Observed arrival · 2026-09-08
CableProbe Watches the Cable, Not Just the Plug
An open-source Linux tool that observes unknown USB cables across baseline, test, and post-test phases, then reports devices, network changes, keystroke patterns, and other anomalies.
Field notes
CableProbe records host state before, during, and after a cable connection, then compares the phases and applies YAML detection rules to the resulting JSON report. Its documented probe set covers USB topology, storage, networking, peripherals, radio behavior, and kernel state; unavailable hardware probes report themselves skipped. The site recommends a disposable Raspberry Pi or similarly isolated host because the tool observes and reports rather than attempting to establish that a cable is benign.
Observed signals
Read the marks
Editorial observations of this landing page, not a rating.
One card from the complete issue