Apple MacBook batteries found vulnerable to malware

From InfoWorld: MacBook users are being warned their Apple laptop batteries are vulnerable to being hacked.

After studying the batteries in several MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and MacBook Airs, security researcher Charlie Miller found that Apple laptop microcontroller chips are shipped with default passwords that, once discovered, can be used as a hiding spot for malware as well as a conduit for disabling the battery and even blowing it up.

"These batteries just aren't designed with the idea that people will mess with them," Miller told Forbes. "What I'm showing is that it's possible to use them to do something really bad."

Using passwords associated with a 2009 Apple software update, Miller was able to permanently disable several batteries, manipulate readings sent to the operating system and charger, and completely rewrite the chip's firmware.

He said a culprit could install malware on the chip to infect the rest of the computer and steal data, control its functions, or cause it to crash. And even though the batteries he studied have safeguards against explosions, he thinks it would be possible to remotely cause them to explode on command.

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