Apple MacBook battery could be hacked, bricked, even made to explode from afar

New Delhi: In yet another demonstration of how vulnerable consumer technology products are to hacks despite the high level of encryption they are manufactured with, a security hacker disclosed how the battery of an Apple MacBook is remotely hackable.

At the Black Hat security conference, Charlie Miller, who specializes in hacking Apple software, demonstrated how it is possible to remotely control the battery of the laptop from afar and cause ‘bricking’ or incapacitating it.

A report on Venture Beat notes that Miller had tried to make a MacBook smart battery explode, but he could not do that. However, he managed to take control of the battery and brick it.

Apple’s smart batteries are used to charge a battery more efficiently and report back to the operating system and the user the exact percentage charge remaining on the battery. The process is controlled by the firmware running on the chips within the battery, which also governs when to stop charging to prevent overheating.

Miller found that Apple left a default password unchanged that gave him entry into a chip and he was able to manipulate the settings for the chip. He was thus able to hack into the battery so they no longer recognized the computer. Although Apple could fix the issue, but Miller warns that it would not be difficult to crack the 32-bit password.

He was further able to break into the firmware and change the settings of the battery. Miller also shared a tool that would allow people to change the default passwords on their batteries. However, the tool would work only till Apple makes no changes.

Other than bricking or exploding the battery, other possible exploits could include coupling a browser exploit and sending a virus or other malware to a target. The virus could then deliver a payload such as sending commands to the battery to make it inoperable or even make it catch on fire remotely.