Energizer Battery Charger Has Hidden Trojan

[exfileme]

The US-CERT has detected a trojan in software bundled with Energizer's DUO USB Battery Charger.

Energizer Battery Charger Has Hidden Trojan : Read more

 

[Shadow703793]

Wow... next thing we know Canon/Sony,etc cameras will come with pre-loaded with malware.

 

[milktea]

I have never seen a charger which comes with software. Has battery chargers gotten so complicated that it needs to run a software in your PC to charge something?

 

[jrharbort]

Someone at energizer looks like they wont be going on. =P

How something like this slips through the cracks with hundreds of thousands of units produced is crazy, and downright unresponsible.

 

[brendano257]

That's pretty insane, intentional or accidental, this type of thing should not be overlooked. I would like to see what their little Bunny has to say about this...

 

[WheelsOfConfusion]

[citation][nom]Shadow703793[/nom]Wow... next thing we know Canon/Sony,etc cameras will come with pre-loaded with malware.[/citation]
Sony BMG CDs from 2005 already have a good chance of that.

 

[cscott_it]

Something odd, this news came out before the phone news did.

Either way, I know what I'm buying my roomate as a suprise gift.

 

[Regulas]

First off, where is this thing manufactured. My first guess is China. Second why would you want to charge AAA batteries in a USB connection, what's wrong with the wall socket?

 

[hairystuff]

This is nothing new, I've had Kingston branded CF cards come with preloaded malware about 5 years ago from ebuyer.com, the packages were blister pack sealed, so I'm guessing it must have come from the factory like that, as a rule any storage based products I buy now get wiped before I use them.

 

[Hupiscratch]

IT´S SKYNET! RUN TO THE MOUNTAINS!

 

[joebob2000]

This is *not* a manufacturing glitch. This software is actually not shipped with the charger, it is made available on the Energizer web site for use if you want to know the charge percentage and estimated time to completion. The fact that Energizer published this software for so long (a few years) and no one ever noticed is a testament to the lax attitude many vendors adopt. Also, for what it's worth, the 'trojan' is really just a passive backdoor; if you have a hardware/software firewall and *dont* specifically open that port, it is harmless (aside from cpu usage and being generally creepy). There is no phone-home routine and no other malicious activity.

 

[the_krasno]

How did the hackers implant the code there?!

Or maybe Energizer tries to spy on us.

 

[bustapr]

[citation][nom]Hupiscratch[/nom]IT´S SKYNET! RUN TO THE MOUNTAINS![/citation]
LOL, This just might be the next "But can it play Crysis?"Now with the new rules on that comment, someone has to take the throne? This one is actually still funny.

 

[wotan31]

LOL.... Windows. Insecure as ever.

 

[sailfish]

If the Energizer charger ever infect my 'puter, that silly wabbit better keep going, and going and going.

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]WheelsOfConfusion[/nom]Sony BMG CDs from 2005 already have a good chance of that.[/citation]
lol, yeah if you talk about Root kits. But I was specifically referring to trojans, viruses.

 

[doc70]

[citation][nom]brendano257[/nom]That's pretty insane, intentional or accidental, this type of thing should not be overlooked. I would like to see what their little Bunny has to say about this...[/citation]
Of course is intentional, why would someone put malware on charger software? Because it's the last place to check for such a thing and that's exactly why it was placed there.
Think about the huge underground business that ID theft has become and you'll understand why some hungry employee would slip such a thing on their soft package.
[citation][nom]wotan31[/nom]LOL.... Windows. Insecure as ever.[/citation]
Yes, it is secure, funny boy. That's how it got discovered. If it was written for, say, MacOS, it would still be there, doing it's thing. Lucky though, that OS will never have such a widespread market penetration.

 

[mrmoo500]

why the heck would a battery company put a trojan on peoples computers?

 

[DM0407]

Yes, it is secure, funny boy. That's how it got discovered. If it was written for, say, MacOS, it would still be there, doing it's thing. Lucky though, that OS will never have such a widespread market penetration./quote]


penetration, hehe

 

[doc70]

[citation][nom]DM0407[/nom]

Yes, it is secure, funny boy. That's how it got discovered. If it was written for, say, MacOS, it would still be there, doing it's thing. Lucky though, that OS will never have such a widespread market penetration./quote]penetration, hehe[/citation]

Yeah, I know... for lack of a better word.
Hope I don't get banned for it....