firmware appears in many papers and computer accessories, keyboards, mice, webcams graphics and sound cards, even the battery in your computer or phone firmware. The experts found that sophisticated hackers target firmware in mobile phones and computers, as they are notoriously fragile and relatively dangerous. Kaspersky Labs revealed they had discovered malware was programmed to be planted in the firmware on different devices. Therefore firmware in phones and computers are so vulnerable.
Firmware was never designed to be safe, the manufacturers never felt the need to encrypt or at least place the same security measures as other parts of the hardware and software. One such example is that in 2011, security researcher Charlie Miller found that Apple laptop batteries were shipped with the same default passwords in their chips on board. Anyone who has their hands on the password was able to reprogram the chip and potentially install new software.
So what can be done about these security vulnerabilities in our devices? Unfortunately, not much can be done, that anti-virus programs do basic scan the hard drive for malicious code, malware or other violations, but with firmware, it is much harder to detect. The responsibility lies within the hardware and chip manufacturers to implement measures against-much stronger against such attacks. Meanwhile, keep an active lookout on updates to the software / hardware that are installed, and make sure they are still official updates with signed certificates proving that they are the official supplier.
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