Fear for Mac security: After a security researcher recently demonstrated how the T2 security chip in current Apple computers can be hacked and misused for various malicious purposes, a team of hackers is now following up with a real live exploit. In a YouTube video, the team shows t 8012 – “t 8012” is Apple’s internal Name for the T2 – how a Mac can be taken over via a manipulated USB-C cable.

Two exploits via a manipulated USB-C cable The jailbreak checkra1n is used, which is already known from the iPhone. The exploit runs entirely on a mini-computer in a USB-C cable in coordination with the T2. Entries on the computer are not necessary, the cable only has to be plugged in – in this case at the login screen. Finally, the hackers demonstrate how they are logged into the Mac as root. They named the exploit T2 Plug’NPwn.

In a second video, team t 8012 gets in even earlier: They show how they can remodel the Apple boot logo by manipulating the MacEFI via the T2 chip, which is quite impressive. Both exploits use a combination of security vulnerabilities that Apple cannot do anything about because they are hard-coded in the T2 chip – this is explicitly structured to prevent manipulation.

Criminals and “nation states”? Rick Mark from Team t 8012 told 9to5Mac with, he suspects that “nation states” (ie security authorities and secret services) are already using the technology to crack Macs. The consolation remains that, based on current knowledge, such hacks cannot be performed remotely – there must always be physical access to the machine. This means that only very specific attacks can be realized