Imagine if a phone charger could serve malicious code and charge your iPhone. It would be a hacker's dream -- one that might already be a reality.
A group of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology claim they created an iPhone charger than can surreptitiously install malware on the Apple phone, allowing potential attackers to hack in, as first reported by Forbes.
Researchers will reveal the device at the annual security conference Black Hat, held in Las Vegas at the end of July.
"Despite the plethora of defense mechanisms in iOS, we successfully injected arbitrary software into current-generation Apple devices running the latest operating system (OS) software," reads the description of the researchers' speech. All users are affected, as our approach requires neither a jailbroken device nor user interaction.”
The malicious charger uses BeagleBoard, a $45 open-source hardware single-board computer. The researchers chose BeagleBoard to demonstrate the ease of building malicious chargers that look innocent enough to trick most consumers.
The researchers aren't willing to share too many details ahead of time, but they did tell Forbes that they have contacted Apple about their potential exploit.
Watch the video above to learn more.