A word of warning to iPhone users: be careful when someone offers to let you use their charger, especially if it's someone you don't know very well!
Researchers at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas last week showed just how easy it is for hackers to gain access to your iPhone, all through the use of a hacked charger, the Daily Mail reports, and the creepy thing is, the iPhone user will continue using their phone unaware of the trojan virus installed.
A modified iPhone charger with malicious malware can easily install it onto an unsuspecting user's phone, which research scientist Billy Lau and Ph.D. student Yeong Jin Jang of the Georgia Tech Information Security Center demonstrated during the conference. They called their device "Mactans," a large plastic box that they say can easily be made to resemble an iPhone charger.
Once a user's iPhone is hooked up to the faux charger, it takes around 80 seconds for the fake app to be installed without the user noticing. In their demonstration, researchers duplicated a Facebook application to show just how easy installing phony software can be.
The phony app looks and behaves just like the original, only it carries a malicious trojan.
According to Lau, a phony mobile banking app can allow hackers to transfer money around using a victim's phone.
The malware can also enable screen sharing, which can show potential criminals exactly what the user is typing onscreen, potentially allowing them access to their accounts, an alarming possibility for sensitive information and data.
The researchers have alerted Apple to their discovery, though it is yet unclear what he media giant will do, if anything, about the hacking potential.
Click here to see photos from the conference in which researchers displayed their alarming findings on iPhone charger malware.
