Today, an Apple spokesperson said the company is grateful to Billy Lau, research scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology and graduate students Chengyu Song and Yeongin Jang for their “valuable input” and said the fix to the issue will appear in the latest beta version of iOS7.
The software update is scheduled to be released this fall, so until then Apple devices will remain vulnerable to the attack.
In their demonstration, the trio plugged an iPhone to a charger which they equipped with a small Linux computer programmed to attack iOS devices. The researchers said they spent $45 on their project and worked on it for a week.
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The custom-built charger infected the iPhone with a computer virus that caused the phone to dial a number of one of the researchers.
They said in a real attack, cyber criminals could develop a virus that will enable them to fully control devices. This would allow them to steal banking passwords and credit card numbers or gain access to emails, contact information or track the location of the device owner.
