Malicious charger can hijack iPhones

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a bogus charger for Apple's iPhones that can infect it with malicious software within a minute.

The three researchers - Billy Lau, Yeongjin Jang and Chengyu Song - were able to get around all of the built-in defences of the popular smartphones and install whatever code they wanted.

"All users are affected, as our approach requires neither a jailbroken device nor user interaction," they said.

They are due to provide more detailed information on the attack method at the Black Hat USA conference this year.

To create the malicious charger, the researchers used a BeagleBoard barebones system that costs around $45. "This hardware was selected to demonstrate the ease with which innocent-looking, malicious USB chargers can be constructed," wrote the researchers in their conference summary.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 4 Jun 2013 21:40

A5J4DX

wow :o

5.6.2013 22:58 #1

molsen

I figured someone was able to do that. I don't have the ability or knowledge, but I knew someone had to think about that. It seems perfectly logical though get you when your defenses are down.

6.6.2013 06:39 #2

robertmro

You just have to trick people into attaching it to their iPhones.
Come to think of it, that shouldn't be too hard.

8.6.2013 15:55 #3

pmshah

Can I but license for this ???

I think I am smarter. I charge my phones only through the USB port on the PC. The chargers are still in their original shrink wraps. If in emergency I need to use an external charger I use one for a vanilla voice and text message phone ( 4 20/ 4 years ago) with a mini-usb to micro-usb adapter.

9.6.2013 02:35 #4

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