Energizer USB Battery Charger Software Infects PCs

swandives writes "Researchers at US-CERT have warned that software accompanying the Energizer DUO USB battery charger contains a Trojan that gives hackers total access to a Windows PC. The product was sold in the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia starting in 2007. Upon installation, the software creates the file 'Arucer.dll,' a Trojan that listens for commands on TCP port 7777. Upon receiving instructions, the Trojan can download and execute files, transmit files stolen from the PC, or tweak the Windows registry. Uninstalling the software disables the automatic execution of the Trojan. Users can also remove Arucer.dll from Windows' system32 directory and reboot the machine to disable the backdoor component."

Comments

Near Anagram for Duracell

[eldavojohn]

Interesting that Arucer.dll is (aside from an extra 'r') an anagram for Energizer's competitor Duracell. Perhaps the authors of the software thought Duracell was spelled 'Durracell'? And perhaps they decided to pick an anagram of the competitor to make it look as though Duracell is behind this?

Re:Near Anagram for Duracell

[CaptnMArk]

Duracell(r)

Re:Near Anagram for Duracell

[Anne_Nonymous]

The should all be charged with assaulting battery!

-rimshot-

Re:Near Anagram for Duracell

[Khyber]

What, you don't own a kill-a-watt so you can determine that? So much for being a geek!

Re:Near Anagram for Duracell

[Runaway1956]

Somewhere, above, in this conversation, someone already stated something to the effect "incompetent != stupid". People who can't find task manager may or may not be stupid, but they are definitely IN-FUCKING-COMPETENT!

Further, it has already been stated that you do the incompetent no service, and no justice, by making excuses for them. You'll do them a greater service by pointing out that they are incompetent, then help them to become competent.

Here, you are just running at the mouth, looking for a fight, when you don't even appear to understand what the fight is about.

This Trojan

[retardpicnic]

just keeps going....and going...and going....

Sometimes

[xav_jones]

No version for linux is a good thing.

Re:A clean uninstaller? wow!

[kurt555gs]

I tried $sudo apt-get install arucer in Kubuntu, but the Trojan is not yet in the repository. Perhaps is should use $sudo dpkg and install it from the USB key it's self.

I wonder if Wine will run this?

Purchasers should have known something was wrong

[jlowery]

if only because of the giant wooden Energizer Bunny on the packaging.

USB? Software? On a BATTERY CHARGER?

[Hurricane78]

What the... WHYY?

My battery charger takes four batteries and goes into the power socket. That’s it.
I don’t see why in the world a charged would need more than this.

It’s like having a supercomputer to control a toaster. It makes no sense at all.
In my eyes, those who bought that thing, deserve what they got.

Re:A clean uninstaller? wow!

[kseise]

Ubuntu does not equal Linux. Come on man! You probably have to wait for it to be packaged upstream. Besides, a DLL is a LIBRARY file. You should be looking for lib-arucer or something similar like waffles, or whatever the developer felt like naming it. If that doesn't work, try x-arucer, or switch to Gentoo. I am sure they can get it.

PS- Wine might run it, but you will probably need a patch. Try Cedega or Play-On-Linux, or qemu or dosbox.

Re:Purchasers should have known something was wron

[dkleinsc]

Not true. If it had been a giant wooden bunny, they'd have known that Lancelot, Galahad, and Bedevere had forgotten to get inside in the first place.

Just wait until...

[mhajicek]

Just wait until you plug it into your Toyota.

Re:Just wait until...

[ascari]

Toyota: Just keeps going, and going, and going?

Re:An AutoStart Fix for Windows XP and W2K

[Sir_Lewk]

It's things like this that just go to show why windows will never be ready for the desktop.