Your smartphone's adapter may not be as harmless as it seems at first glance ...  Photo: Profimedia / Alamy BadPower, as the security flaw is called, attacks systems in adapters for fast battery charging. The adapter of your smartphone, you think, is a simple, harmless piece of technology. But scientists at Chinese company Xuanwu Labs have discovered how an adapter with support for fast charging can be hacked so that the battery overheats and even ignites. While the smartphone is connected to a fast-charging support adapter, it exchanges data so that it can determine the appropriate amount of electricity it can let into the device without causing damage. The more current it can leak, the faster the charging will go. However, it is this exchange of data that can be misused in order to let much more electricity into the smartphone than the device can handle, which leads to overheating, melting and damage, but also to fire.  Something squirmed under the hood, and then a large lizard ran outside and scared the neighborhood Scientists have tested 35 different adapters and successfully hacked 18 of them. These are devices from various manufacturers. If they have access to the adapter, the attack can be reported in a few seconds. In some cases, it was enough to connect the adapter to an infected smartphone or laptop.