Touchscreens and other components that are often replaced in smartphones and tablets can hide malicious chips capable of giving attackers complete control over the device, warned researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Researchers conducted their experiments on two Android devices: a Huawei Nexus 6P smartphone which uses a touchscreen controller from Synaptics, and an LG G Pad 7.0 tablet that uses an Atmel controller. However, the experts believe many other devices are also vulnerable to these types of attacks, including ones made by Apple.
In their tests, the researchers used a hot air blower to separate the touch screen controller from the main assembly board and access the copper pads.
