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Researchers Infect iOS Devices With Malware Via Malicious Charger
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "At the upcoming Black Hat security conference in late July, three researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology plan to show off a proof-of-concept charger that they say can be used to invisibly install malware on a device running the latest version of Apple's iOS. A description of their talk posted to the conference website describes how they were able to install whatever malware they wished on an Apple device within a minute of the user plugging it into their malicious charger, which they're calling 'Mactans' after the scientific name of a Black Widow spider. The malware-loaded USB plug is built around an open-source single-board computer known as a BeagleBoard, sold by Texas Instruments for a retail price of around $45. The researchers have contacted Apple about their exploit but haven't heard back from the company and aren't sharing more details of their hack until they do."
I've seen this going back years with USB keyboards etc from China, they install all sorts of crap on your PC without you knowing.
That is obviously a PC problem... on the other hand Apple products, chargers etc. are all made in the US.
We've seen how this plays out in the past. The first contact Apple is going to make is with their legal team to sue those researchers out of existence. How dare they discover a hole and tell them about it.