USB-powered nickel-metal hydride battery recharger has been discontinued

According to researchers at US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team), software that accompanies the Energizer DUO USB battery charger contains a Trojan horse that gives hackers total access to a Windows PC.

The Energizer DUO, a USB-powered nickel-metal hydride battery recharger, has been discontinued, said Energizer Holdings, which late Friday confirmed that the software contains malicious code for 12″ apple powerbook g4 battery . The company has not said how the Trojan made its way into the software, however. “Energizer is currently working with both CERT and U.S. government officials to understand how the code was inserted in the software,” Energizer said in a statement.

Energizer’s DUO was sold in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia starting in 2007.Energizer said it has removed the software from its download site of 15″ apple powerbook g4 aluminum battery , and added that although it had offered similar software for Mac OS X, only the Windows version had been infected.The Trojan automatically executes each time the PC is turned on, and remains active, even if the Energizer charger is not connected to the machine.

The Windows software included with the charger is designed to show battery-charging status. When the software is installed, it creates the file “Arucer.dll,” which is actually a Trojan that listens for commands on TCP port 7777. Upon instructions, the Trojan can download and execute files of Sony VGP-BPS13 battery , transmit files stolen from the PC, or tweak the Windows registry.

This isn’t the first time that a hardware company has planted malware on unsuspecting customers’ PCs. In 2007, Seagate Technology admitted that an unknown number of its hard drives left an Asian manufacturing plant with Trojan horses of 13″ apple macbook pro battery, , while the year before that Apple warned iPod owners that some of the music players carried a Windows virus.