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Although you may never have imagined it, the anxiety ofI have a dead cell phone, I absolutely need to recharge it Now” can make you take some risks. Be careful when charging your cell phone out and about. If you find USB ports in public places (such as airports or trains) where you can attach your cell phone, avoid doing so or at least take some precautions first.
Let's take inspiration from this article on the DuckDuckGo blog to talk to you about this topic. Those who have been following us for a long time know that we try to stay away from conspiracies and conspiracy theories. In fact, we are talking about a concrete possibility, even if it is currently not very widespread. Just like being careful when using ATMs (which may have been tampered with to clone your ATM). Sooner or later, hacking your cell phone in this way could also become fruitful.
Be careful when charging your cell phone while out and about
As we were saying, we are therefore talking about a concrete possibility, a method that is already feasible. Read for example this post by the Los Angeles Country District Attorney or this alarm of the Federal Communications Commission. Using a Counterfeit USB port the cell phone could be infected with a dangerous malware. It might get stuck for later send all your data and passwords to the delinquent on duty.
We repeat that it is a concrete possibility even if currently little used. But do yourself some good for once anticipate the bad guys, don't wait for the thing become viral and famous to defend yourself. Also because defending yourself is really simple, it can be done in three simple ways:
- Used always and only power sockets, never a USB-only charging station.
- When traveling, bring along a pair of Power Bank decent, you might be able to fully charge your phone even 3 or 4 times.
- There is the so-called USB condom also in version Open source 1. It is a very simple and at the same time ingenious object. Even the name is spot on: if you have to insert your mobile phone into unknown USBs at least do it conscientiously! This object indeed will block any type of data transmission attempt just letting you recharge your cell phone. You can buy it on the website of the company that first invented it on syncstop.com or by searching for “USB data block” or similar phrases in your favorite shop (if you can Not Amazon).
- Last alternative: they also exist USB cables which cannot transmit data but can only recharge. If you are not sure which cable you have, however, prefer the previous three options.
According to this survey by DuckDuckGo few people are aware of this risk.
In the hope of having convinced you in some way, we leave the choice to you how to protect yourself. We leave you to read it too Wikipedia page, this kind of cyber-attack is called Juice jacking in jargon. We believe that the best weapon to defend yourself is to be informed and above all to anticipate this type of attack. Especially when very little is enough to be safe.
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