A new wave of attack has been discovered by a security researcher at Juniper Networks. Instead of targeting an operating system or softwares, this attack compromises hardware devices such as routers and cellphones.

The main flaw is in the microprocessors which are chips that are used in some devices. The ones that are known so far are Arm and XScale microprocessors.

“There are interesting quirks in the ARM and XScale architectures that make things very easy for an attacker,” said Burnaby Jack of Juniper.

If an attacker use this kind of attack, the attack can run unauthorized software on these devices and it can also affect networked devices. It can steal sensitive information, redirect internet traffic, and steal bank accounts and passwords.

Source: COMPUTERWORLD