A group of British security experts have potentially saved thousands of men around the world from an embarrassing situation after they discovered a security flaw in a popular male chastity device.
Pen Test Partners have gone public with their concerns about the Chinese-made CellMate device after themakers missed a self-imposed deadline to fix the flaw.
The device, which Pen Test Partners believes has been sold to approximately 40,000 users, works by allowing the wearer to give control over a clamp-and-lock mechanism to a partner using a mobile phone.
Sold online for $280, the devices promises that the "submissive will not be able to cheat and escape" and the "self-initiated timer lock heightens the level of chastity experience for single players".
As Ken Munro from Pen Test Partners explained in a YouTube video, a flaw in the code used by the device meant that a hacker could easily lock all global user's devices at once.
Because the device is entirely electronic, this nightmare scenario could leave thousands of men suddenly and painfully constricted.
Stressing that they weren't trying to kink shame the users of the device, Munro revealed that if the device did lock then the only options would be to cut through the heavy duty metal using an angle grinder or send a small electric current through the CellMate to force the clamp to release.
Munro says that Pen Test notified Qiui, the device's Chinese creators, back in April when they found the flaw but it had not yet been fully fixed.
They decided to go public when it became obvious that other researchers had made the same discovery and decided it was in the public good to release the information.
Other issues with the device had also started to come to light, with users leaving online reviews detailing painful issues.
"The app stopped working completely after three days and I am stuck!" wrote one reviewer.
Another said they "already got stuck twice when wearing it due to the unreliable app".
Another used shared their own painful experience: "It worked for about a month until I almost got stuck in it. Thankfully it unlocked itself randomly and I was able to get out of it. The device left a bad scar that took nearly a month of recovery."
