According to a recent analysis by security researchers at Symantec, there is evidence that software for the Energizer Duo USB battery charger, which has been taken off the market March 5 onwards, had been infected with a backdoor Trojan since May 10, 2007.

Elaborating further, Dean Turner, director of Global Intelligence Network at Symantec, said that the creation date in the Trojan binary's header indeed states that it was created back in May 2007. This would imply that the Trojan was most likely created back in 2007; however, there is a possibility that the time and date were set wrong on the computer that was used when the binary source files were compiled."

Noting that the recently-discovered Trojan malware affects the Windows version of its Duo and USB battery charger products, the Energizer battery company is urging the users to clean out their computers. Though the malware is easy to combat with some simple fixes, it can - if compromised - enable a hacker to remotely access the infected systems.

The Energizer battery company, which has revealed that the malware-infected nickel hydride chargers were first shipped in 2007 and sold in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, also said that it was removing the site from which the contentious software could be downloaded. Nonetheless, as a precautionary measure, the company has suggested that users who downloaded the Windows version of the software should uninstall it.