Unless you have managed to avoid any news or media outlets in the last while you have no doubt heard the term “juice jacking”. So let’s start with the basics – what is it? Wikipedia offers the following definition:
“Juice jacking is a type of cyber attack involving a charging port that doubles as a data connection, typically over USB. This often involves either installing malware or surreptitiously copying sensitive data from a smart phone, tablet, or other computer device.”
Why is this something you need to know about? Think about the last time you visited a hospital, café or airport lounge. You may have noticed public charging stations. These charging stations have saved me many times when I have been about to run out of battery and need to keep my laptop or phone alive. Powerpoints are just never there when you need them. Unfortunately, these saviours of modern life are now the target for criminals. The attack uses a charging port or infected cable to exfiltrate data from the connected device or upload malware onto it. The term was first used by Brian Krebs in 2011 after a proof of concept was conducted at DEF CON by Wall of Sheep. When users plugged their phones into a free charging station, a message appeared on the kiosk screen saying:
“You should not trust public kiosks with your smart phone. Information can be retrieved or downloaded without your consent. Luckily for you, this station has taken the ethical route and your data is safe. Enjoy the free charge!”
Like scammers who steal debit card numbers by putting illegal card-reading devices, or skimmers, on A.T.M.s, hackers can easily rip out USB ports and replace them with their own malicious hardware, said Vyas Sekar, a professor at CyLab, a security and privacy research institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
“It’s easy to modify the outlet if the attacker has physical access,” Professor Sekar said.
Even a 60-second power-up can be enough to compromise your phone’s data. This is because USB cables allow the transmission of both power and data streams simultaneously. Victims can be left vulnerable to identity theft, financial fraud, and significant stress.
“People want the convenience of charging their phones and tablets wherever they go,” Professor Sekar said, adding, “Obviously I would like it too, but there is a risk.”
Professor Sekar said consumers could also use attachable protective devices on USB cables known as “USB condoms.”
“What they do is a very simple trick,” he said. “They essentially disable the data pin on the USB charger.” This means that the device will charge, but the cable will be unable to send or receive data.
The security threat is so real the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office issued an advisory to travelers in November 2019 warning them of the potential dangers of using public USB ports.
Malwarebytes Labs explains in more detail how this works:
As you may have noticed, when you charge your phone through the USB port of your computer or laptop, this also opens up the option to move files back and forth between the two systems. That’s because a USB port is not simply a power socket. A regular USB connector has five pins, where only one is needed to charge the receiving end. Two of the others are used by default for data transfers.
With the dust barley settling after Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas we thought it might be a good time to share some of the media and attention Armourcard got for the US launch and iTProTV is the first off the rank.
Armourcard is the only RFID protective product certified by Federal Communication Commission (FCC), we had to be as we emit a signal and that signal is jamming the frequency 13.56Mhz which is the most common frequency contactless devices like credit cards, ePassports, building entry cards & NFC phones use to communicate over.
Booth number: 21931
