Tech Times Weekly Wrap: Cyberattack Phone Fires, China's Moon Mission, AT&T's Massive Outage

Last week's tech news brought these three top stories to the world, including the notorious cyberattack that targets smartphones using Qi wireless chargers and may cause them to burst in flames. The upcoming crewed Moon mission from China also got massive attention last week, centering on the Mengzhou crewship and the Lanyue lander.

The massive outage from AT&T last week also caused significant disruptions in the United States, affecting its wireless services that were inaccessible for many.

Cyberattack Causes Smartphone Fires via Wireless Charging

The University of Florida and CertiK, a security audit company, recently discovered a new cyberattack that can target users who charge via Qi wireless chargers, causing them to catch on fire when using it. This new threat, while not yet exploited by bad actors in the present, has the potential to cause significant issues for users, especially those not paying attention to charging sessions.

TechXplore highlighted this discovery where the Qi wireless chargers have vulnerabilities in its communication-based feedback control system, specifically with its inductive chargers.

It is through this that the Qi wireless chargers transfer energy from the magnets to the smartphone and its batteries via electromagnetic fields. More specifically, the wireless charger's VoltSchemer adapter which can be manipulated to bring three types of attacks to a device.

China's Crewed Moon Mission: New Spaceship and Lander

China is moving forward with its planned crewed Moon mission with the introduction of its new spaceship and lander names, centering on the future undertaking of this venture by around 2030. The Chinese space agency recently unveiled the "Mengzhou" crewship which stands for "dream vessel," and the "Lanyue" Moon lander which means "embracing the moon."

These were the chosen names for the vessels it will use for the mission come next decade, trimmed down from the almost 2,000 proposals submitted since August 2023.

China's Manned Space Agency revealed that its renowned Long March-10 carrier rockets would bring the spacecraft to the Moon's orbit, before the planned landing.

Massive Outage of AT&T Affects Multiple US Users

One of the most massive outages in communications and wireless connections happened last week with AT&T, and the telecommunication company's services saw significant disruptions that went on for hours. This left users without access to calls, texts, and data internet connections which widely affected its US user base.

DownDetector's website saw around 74,000 customers reporting the issue, with the company acknowledging the issue and claiming that it would fix the problems immediately. However, despite services returning, AT&T did not reveal the reasons behind it initially, but on a recent update via X, claimed that it was an incorrect process amidst its network expansion plans.

Now, the company offers as much as $5 credit for affected subscribers by applying on its website.