
Security researchers have found a way to seize control of a laptop computer by manipulating buggy code in the system’s wireless device driver. The hack will be demonstrated at the upcoming Black Hat USA 2006 conference during a presentation by David Maynor, a research engineer with Internet Security Systems, and Jon Ellch, a student at the U.S. Naval postgraduate school in Monterey, Calif. Device driver hacking is technically challenging, but the field has become more appealing in recent years, thanks in part to new software tools that make it easier for less technically savvy hackers, known as script kiddies, to attack wireless cards, Maynor said in an interview.