"The Energizah...it'll surprise 'ya.....OY!!!"
Posted on 03/10/2010 1:11:32 PM PST by Widdy
The United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) has warned that the software included in the Energizer DUO USB battery charger contains a backdoor that allows unauthorized remote system access.
In an advisory, the US-CERT warned that he installer for the Energizer DUO software places the file UsbCharger.dll in the application’s directory and Arucer.dll in the Windows system32 directory.
For more: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=5602&tag=wrapper;col1
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.zdnet.com ...
Not even battery chargers are safe. Why can’t they just use the power from the PC instead? Seems like they want to get all fancy and install a graphical battery level meter and other notifications.
Energizer has issued a statement acknowledging the issue. The company said it has discontinued sale of this product and has removed the site to download the software. In addition, Energizer is directing consumers that downloaded the Windows version of the software to uninstall or otherwise remove the software from your computer.
Okaaayyyy.... they "acknowledge the issue" -- but -- what I want to know is who put it in there, and when did they know about it?
Not even battery chargers are safe. Why can’t they just use the power from the PC instead? Seems like they want to get all fancy and install a graphical battery level meter and other notifications.
When I first read that, I said, "Okay, we'll just charge the batteries by plugging a charger in the wall... problem solved, right?!"
BUT..., with the electrical power companies saying that they're going to have their infrastructure wired for Internet, throughout their system (down to the meters)... that would mean that -- one day -- even plugging a charger in the wall could present you with a "security problem"... LOL ...
But... Is this even possible? How exactly would it work?
Software. It’s all done in software. I suspect that they tell you you need the software to make the charger work. All you end up getting, besides the “back door”, is some fancy graphics that people can go Oh and Ah over. Now a USB port puts out 5v. I sometimes charge my iPhone on my laptop. No software on the PC is required. Which is good because I run Linux, and Apple (and M$) don’t make software that will run on it. This Energizer software wouldn’t work either.
.
Ah — that discs they sell along with the products.
Dirty bastards.
"The Energizah...it'll surprise 'ya.....OY!!!"
Not sure why you need software on your computer in order to charge some batteries. Maybe to save your laptop battery if it’s not plugged into an AC outlet?
How do I run a DLL on my Mac?
OTOH, I am getting a little worried, and am going to have to dig into VMWare Fusion a bit more. Its Windows/Mac integration features are starting to get so good to where you run a Windows app in the Mac UI, and it just starts the VM behind the scenes for it and opens it with an integrated Window.
Time to start being a bit more careful.
I have never trusted that hyper-bunny,
My laptop has a BIOS setting that instructs the computer whether to charge (supply power) the USB port if on battery or not.
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