There can be nothing better than free charging for your electronic devices in public places.
In fact, many deem them to be lifesavers when you’re on the run and are running out of battery life with some crucial tasks left. But did you know, all that glitters is certainly not gold.
Experts are raising the alarm against public charging stations and how they’re doing more harm than good. It’s all thanks to bad actors who are now hijacking such public charging ports at locations including malls and airports.
Hence, the next time you’d like to take advantage of it at your nearest airport or shopping mall, think twice as chances are, your device could be infected with malware and it can steal data that’s sensitive.
The news comes in the form of a new alert generated by the FBI Denver Field Office. They’re advising against the use of free charging ports at hotels, airports, malls, and more. As per their intelligence data, bad actors are finding out more and more techniques to add malware and monitor software into such devices.
A lot of similar guidelines were laid down on the web regarding the topic that comes under the heading of Juice Jackings. People are requested to be careful while making a connection to a public outlet and also told not to purchase as they could be subjected to middle-man attacks.
Common symptoms that prove your device is affected include it getting overheated, suffering drainage of the battery, and making use of more data than usual. Similarly, downloading unauthorized apps while changing settings could also work out against them.
Another report by 9to5Mac says smartphones by Android are even more vulnerable now to such attacks than the famous iPhones and iPads. This might be linked to the fact that Apple’s devices entail a feature called Trust This Device which arises in the form of a security warning whenever external actors are plunged into it and they attempt to gain access to it.
We have seen a lot of USB attacks in the past and how they continue to cause a lot of damage. As per a report launched in 2021 by leading analysts at cybersecurity firm Honeywell Forge, nearly 79% of the attack are ready to disrupt the operations of normal technology like industrial plans, and seeing this gives the attacker more access on a remote basis to infected devices.
Read next: Social Engineering Attacks Increase by 135% Due to Generative AI
In fact, many deem them to be lifesavers when you’re on the run and are running out of battery life with some crucial tasks left. But did you know, all that glitters is certainly not gold.
Experts are raising the alarm against public charging stations and how they’re doing more harm than good. It’s all thanks to bad actors who are now hijacking such public charging ports at locations including malls and airports.
Hence, the next time you’d like to take advantage of it at your nearest airport or shopping mall, think twice as chances are, your device could be infected with malware and it can steal data that’s sensitive.
The news comes in the form of a new alert generated by the FBI Denver Field Office. They’re advising against the use of free charging ports at hotels, airports, malls, and more. As per their intelligence data, bad actors are finding out more and more techniques to add malware and monitor software into such devices.
A lot of similar guidelines were laid down on the web regarding the topic that comes under the heading of Juice Jackings. People are requested to be careful while making a connection to a public outlet and also told not to purchase as they could be subjected to middle-man attacks.
Common symptoms that prove your device is affected include it getting overheated, suffering drainage of the battery, and making use of more data than usual. Similarly, downloading unauthorized apps while changing settings could also work out against them.
Another report by 9to5Mac says smartphones by Android are even more vulnerable now to such attacks than the famous iPhones and iPads. This might be linked to the fact that Apple’s devices entail a feature called Trust This Device which arises in the form of a security warning whenever external actors are plunged into it and they attempt to gain access to it.
We have seen a lot of USB attacks in the past and how they continue to cause a lot of damage. As per a report launched in 2021 by leading analysts at cybersecurity firm Honeywell Forge, nearly 79% of the attack are ready to disrupt the operations of normal technology like industrial plans, and seeing this gives the attacker more access on a remote basis to infected devices.
Read next: Social Engineering Attacks Increase by 135% Due to Generative AI
