Wireless charging stations have become a tool for hacking and physically destroying iPhone smartphones. Hackers don't even need to touch the devices – they can do everything remotely, including making the smartphone overheat. Android devices are also at risk.
Wireless danger
Wireless charging, which is growing in popularity and power day by day, can be used to remotely hack smartphones. Moreover, there is no difference on which platform the mobile phone works – hackers can just as easily subdue both the iPhone and the Android smartphone.
The possibility of using a charging station as a hacking tool was studied and clearly proved by experts from the University of Florida (USA) together with CertiK specialists in the field of information security. In the course of their experiments, they found out an even more frightening fact – a smartphone that is on wireless charging can be physically destroyed by overheating it. Modern batteries do not tolerate high heat, often ignite and at the same time do not extinguish well, which can lead to very bad consequences. For example, the explosive smartphone Samsung Galaxy Note 7 once burned cars, houses and apartments to the ground and left its owners with serious burns.
Hacking "by air"
The attack on smartphones using wireless charging experimenters called VoltSchemer. Its principle is to use electromagnetic interference coming from the charging station to enter voice commands directly on the device.
The researchers published the results of their study in an article available in the public domain. In it, they listed several stations that participated in the experiment – almost all of them were released under little-known brands, and only one had the logo of a large company – Philips. All stations are low-power – from 5 to 15 watts. At the time of the material's release, more productive copies were available for free sale.
The VoltSchemer attack is based on the basic principle of electromagnetic induction, which is also exploited by all modern wireless charging systems without exception. They generate an alternating magnetic field to transmit power to the receiving coil inside the smartphone. A hacker can influence the voltage applied to the input of the charger and thereby create interference, which can then change the characteristics of the magnetic field created by charging.
Hardware version of the hacking stand
At the same time, the attacker does not need physical contact with the charger itself – it does not need to be modified at the hardware level. However, an additional electronic device that will manipulate the voltage will still be required – the experimenters built it directly into the USB socket.
Having gained access to the device, the hacker, according to the authors of the article, will be able to use hidden voice commands to perform almost any actions, for example, call from it or launch applications. The consequences of this can be different, up to catastrophic, especially if the attacker has the code from the banking application on the victim's smartphone.
If you can't hack it, then at least burn it
There is also a more dangerous problem that can result from a VoltSchemer attack. The hacker is able to remotely cause the device to overheat by generating interference using the charging station using the previously mentioned device for controlling the input voltage.
Because of this interference, the charging process on the smartphone is not completed – the controller "goes crazy", and the battery continues to consume charge at maximum power, which leads to an increase in its temperature. A hacker can further increase the input voltage, which can lead to even faster and more heating of the battery.
During the experiment, the maximum temperature of the smartphone, which was achieved-80 degrees Celsius. It was also proven that a hacked charging station can "fry" almost any object that turns out to be on it, whether it's car keys, an ordinary paper clip, an SSD drive or a USB flash drive.
• Source: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2402.11423.pdf
Wireless danger
Wireless charging, which is growing in popularity and power day by day, can be used to remotely hack smartphones. Moreover, there is no difference on which platform the mobile phone works – hackers can just as easily subdue both the iPhone and the Android smartphone.
The possibility of using a charging station as a hacking tool was studied and clearly proved by experts from the University of Florida (USA) together with CertiK specialists in the field of information security. In the course of their experiments, they found out an even more frightening fact – a smartphone that is on wireless charging can be physically destroyed by overheating it. Modern batteries do not tolerate high heat, often ignite and at the same time do not extinguish well, which can lead to very bad consequences. For example, the explosive smartphone Samsung Galaxy Note 7 once burned cars, houses and apartments to the ground and left its owners with serious burns.
Hacking "by air"
The attack on smartphones using wireless charging experimenters called VoltSchemer. Its principle is to use electromagnetic interference coming from the charging station to enter voice commands directly on the device.
The researchers published the results of their study in an article available in the public domain. In it, they listed several stations that participated in the experiment – almost all of them were released under little-known brands, and only one had the logo of a large company – Philips. All stations are low-power – from 5 to 15 watts. At the time of the material's release, more productive copies were available for free sale.
The VoltSchemer attack is based on the basic principle of electromagnetic induction, which is also exploited by all modern wireless charging systems without exception. They generate an alternating magnetic field to transmit power to the receiving coil inside the smartphone. A hacker can influence the voltage applied to the input of the charger and thereby create interference, which can then change the characteristics of the magnetic field created by charging.
Hardware version of the hacking stand
At the same time, the attacker does not need physical contact with the charger itself – it does not need to be modified at the hardware level. However, an additional electronic device that will manipulate the voltage will still be required – the experimenters built it directly into the USB socket.
Having gained access to the device, the hacker, according to the authors of the article, will be able to use hidden voice commands to perform almost any actions, for example, call from it or launch applications. The consequences of this can be different, up to catastrophic, especially if the attacker has the code from the banking application on the victim's smartphone.
If you can't hack it, then at least burn it
There is also a more dangerous problem that can result from a VoltSchemer attack. The hacker is able to remotely cause the device to overheat by generating interference using the charging station using the previously mentioned device for controlling the input voltage.
Because of this interference, the charging process on the smartphone is not completed – the controller "goes crazy", and the battery continues to consume charge at maximum power, which leads to an increase in its temperature. A hacker can further increase the input voltage, which can lead to even faster and more heating of the battery.
During the experiment, the maximum temperature of the smartphone, which was achieved-80 degrees Celsius. It was also proven that a hacked charging station can "fry" almost any object that turns out to be on it, whether it's car keys, an ordinary paper clip, an SSD drive or a USB flash drive.
• Source: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2402.11423.pdf
