Apple AirTags can be hacked says a security expert from Germany and that too within a week of the sale of the very first device launched prestigiously in the first week of May’2021.
Stack Smashing the hacker who tweeted on May 8th of this year that the microcontroller of the AirTag can be influenced by tech that can thereafter help the threat actor take control of the firmware and operations of the tracking device thereafter.
Stack claimed that his study found that the device can be infiltrated and the firmware can be altered in such a way that it starts favoring the hackers.
To those uninitiated, AirTag is a tracking device that was developed in 2019 by the iOS developer. Its purpose is to help users in detecting personal items like keys, bags, pants, shirts, and vehicles through the iOS 14.0 Find MY user interface in the App.
Released on April 30th, 2021 the device uses Bluetooth signals to help its users find their devices respectively.
Smashing claims that the hacked devices divert users to unrelated URLs other than the usual Find My Website. So, such device operations can be tweaked to such an extent that they can be used as botnets to launch DDoS attacks or for other scams like Phishing.
Note- A similar tech was released by an American electronics company named Tile last year that offers tracking devices that users need to attach to their belongings such as keys and backpacks. When Apple released a tech glimpse of Airtag in Sept 2020, Tile made a testimony to American Congress that Apple was indulging in Anti-Competitive practices by stealing/mimicking its invented tech. Apple is yet to respond to the claims made by Tile.
