What is Juice Jacking and how to prevent it & protect your smartphone

How ofttimes do you lot utilize the public charging USB ports to charge your phones, tablets and other devices? Do you know that such public phone chargers can secretly install malware on your device? Yes, that's truthful. Public charging ports are indeed a big assist when the bombardment of our mobile devices is tuckered out, and nosotros don't have a charger or a ability bank; but on the other paw, such ports may also steal all your data by installing malware in your device.

Public meeting places similar coffee shops, offices, aerodrome & hotel lounges, and railway stations have such public charging stations and near of us are often desperate to utilise them when our devices are low on power.

For those who don't know, Juice Jacking is a kind of cyber-assail is termed where malware is installed on your device using a USB charging port, and all your data is covertly copied.

Juice Jacking

What is Juice Jacking

We know that modern Smartphones employ the same data cable and port for power supply equally well as for data streaming. No matter you are using an Android phone, a Windows Telephone or an iPhone, the cable used to charge the phone is also used to transfer the data. The public charging ports could be continued to some subconscious computers which are paired to your device when you kickoff charging it. This is how eavesdroppers become illegal access to all your data stored on your telephone during the charging procedure. Malicious code is and so injected in your device via malicious chargers to steal the data, and this is called Juice Jacking.

Once paired with a desktop computer system, your phone is accessible to the infiltrators, and all your data is at chance including your photos, contacts database, notes, music files, and fifty-fifty the cache files. This is, nevertheless, withal tolerable but the attack can actually be invasive where malicious code is injected into your device which will pair your device with the subconscious reckoner auto until you format your telephone completely and reinstall the factory settings.

Read: What is Fleeceware?

How to prevent Juice Jacking & protect your device

While the Juice Jacking is not a widespread threat, it is always better to be careful. With some of your common sense and carefulness, y'all can easily avoid this surreptitious assault on your devices.

i] Proceed your devices charged– This is a very basic dominion. Whenever y'all are going out for a long time, yous should go along your devices charged completely. It is always a skillful thought to keep your phone on charging when you are not using it, say while working, sleeping, eating, etc.

2] Avoid USB Chargers- Avoid using the public chargers in the outset place, and if you need to, make sure that you use the Air conditioning/DC chargers instead of a USB charger so that there is an simply one-fashion accuse only connection between your device and the charger.

iii] Acquit a power depository financial institution or a charger- Most of the renowned tech brands today are making the power banks, and buying one is a very practiced idea to avoid any kind of nuisance or chaos created by drained out the phone. If not a power bank, do behave your own charger for sure. You tin can get the ability outlet almost at every public identify nowadays, and you can charge your devices with your own charger thereby fugitive the Juice Jacking.

4] Switch Off the device- If yous are not carrying your ain charger or a power banking concern and have to utilise the public kiosks, don't worry. Switch off your phone and so plug it into the charging port. This will only let the power supply period and volition avert whatever data transit. Recollect that power supply is one-way flow and the data transfer flows two-manner, so when your device is turned off, it won't transfer whatsoever data to the hidden computer systems linked to the public charging stations. Windows Telephone users could be at a disadvantage here equally fifty-fifty if your telephone is off, it will automatically switch on in one case you start charging.

5] Get a charge-only cable- In that location are 2 different kinds of USB cables available in the marketplace. Now, non everyone actually knows the difference between a charge just cablevision and a data cablevision. There is not any evidently visual clue to differentiate between the 2, simply y'all can still spot the difference by being a chip extra watchful.

The USB charging cables come with two different kinds of ports- one is the charging port cable, and the other is cablevision with combined (information+charging) ports. The Charge-only cable tin never transmit the data and supplies higher current charge resulting in fast charging. In simple words, a accuse-simply cable is a ii-conductor cablevision, and a data cable is a 4-usher cable. So using the charge-only cable in the public charging stations volition certainly prevent your device from being juice jacked.

6] Use the phone's security features- Most of the smartphones today are well-equipped with security features, but we hardly use them. When you connect your telephone to a USB cable, information technology asks for your permission to transfer the data or not. Click on Cancel when yous are using a public kiosk or whatsoever other figurer you don't rely on. This will cease any kind of data transfer and only let the ability supply flow.

7] Use USB Condom- The public charging stations usually offering the USB charging ports and cables, and information technology is nearly impossible to define if whatsoever of them is accessing your data or not, so information technology is always amend to be extra careful, after all, it is almost your personal data. Using USB safety or Data Blockers is e'er a great idea to avoid Juice Jacking. Many of us might not have even heard near the term 'USB Condom', yes this is actually what the tiny device is chosen, and it rather works in the same way too.

What is a USB safe and how does it work

A USB rubber is a pocket-sized dongle kind of device which tin plow your data cable into a accuse-but cable. It cuts off the connection of data transfer pins of the USB port electronically and permits simply the power supply thereby preventing Juice Jacking. Yous just demand to put the USB condom on the stop of your USB information cablevision, and information technology will convert it into the charge-simply cable thereby preventing any kind of data transmitted while using the untrusted public charging kiosks.

The term Juice Jacking is not very common and was get-go used by Brian Krebs on his security blog. Juice Jacking as well is not that prevalent but yep it is there, and information technology can create a problem for your device. Thus information technology is e'er advised to be careful while charging your phone on a public kiosk.

In a nutshell, yous should avoid using the public charging stations but if you lot accept to use them in an emergency, make sure that yous follow the in a higher place-mentioned tips and go along your device away from risks like data theft and malware inclusions.

Juice Jacking