An airport’s charging station can come to the rescue when your Android phone runs low on battery. After all, not everyone travels with atop power bank. However, with the latest revelation, think twice before plugging your phone into a random USB station. There is a potential security risk you may not be aware of. Such USB ports charge your phone and steal data and other personal information without leaving a trace. The phenomenon is often called juice jacking, and here are the effective ways to shield your phone from it.
Cybersecurity experts have warned about sketchy USB ports and cables in public places. While they look like a normal safe accessory to juice up your phone, juice jacking can export your data to the perpetrator without your consent. Before we talk about the safe ways to use an airport or public charging station, let’s first understand a bit about juice jacking.
What is juice jacking?
Juice jacking isn’t a common term that you hear or read regularly. It’s a cyberattack that hackers use to jack data during the charging process. It’s dangerous since you have no idea that your phone data has been compromised. Hackers can attack your phone with juice jacking in two ways.
The first one is via public charging stations at airports and coffee shops. You are plugging your phone into an unknown USB port or a power adapter here. These charging stations can be compromised to steal the connected phone’s data.
Juice jacking also occurs over charging cables. It’s impossible to differentiate such cables from regular ones. These cables look, feel, and function as your regular cables. However, there’s a catch. These USB ninja cables are designed to insert malware on the connected phone. They send commands to your phone to access private files and app data.
How does juice jacking work?
Juice jacking can target your connected phone in two ways. The airport’s shady charging station can steal your personal data and financial information from your phone. Such modified sockets transmit data from your phone to a remote server.
Another way is to install malware on your phone to keep track of your activities. The hacker can remotely access your phone, which leads to dangerous consequences.
How to safely use a public charging station
Follow the tips below to use a public charging station without breaking a sweat.
Use a USB data blocker
There’s no shortage of affordable USB data blockers on online marketplaces. These little devices come in handy to ensure the charging station works as expected and doesn’t steal confidential files from your phone. These portable USB devices are often known as USB condoms.
Carry a power-only USB cable
A standard USB cable has several applications. It can charge your device and transfer data on the go. However, a power-only USB cable only delivers power between the devices. It blocks any kind of data transfer.
Avoid public charging station
If your phone or tablet has enough juice to carry you through the next flight, avoid plugging it into a charging station. You should also ignore unknown people offering a charging cable. Don’t leave your phone unattended, even if you use an airport charging station.
Opt for wireless chargers at airports or coffee shops if your phone has wireless charging. Juice jacking doesn’t affect your phone when you charge it wirelessly.
Use a power bank
Do you frequently travel for personal or business purposes? A portable power bank is one of the must-have accessories for you. Thanks to high-capacity power banks with Power Delivery (PD), you can charge your phone, tablet, smartwatch,top earbuds, and laptop.
Tweak your phone settings
When you plug your phone into an airport charging station, the system may show options like charge only, transfer data, or trust this computer. You should always select charge only to prevent data theft.
Carry a wall charger and cable
Carry your personal charger and USB cable while traveling instead of using an unknown charger, a USB slot, or a cable.
Activate Auto blocker from phone settings
With increased juice jacking, you might wonder what phone manufacturers are doing to tackle such problems. Samsung, the world’s most popular smartphone vendor, includes an Auto Blocker function to block apps from unidentified sources and commands by USB cable.
Auto Blocker is available only on eligible Samsung devices running One UI 6 software.
Keep prying eyes away from your phone
While not all airport charging stations are malicious, a stroke of bad luck can leave you with data theft on your Android. Keep the tricks above in mind and safely power up your phone in no time.
You should also know that Google tracks your web browsing history, location, app activities, and more on your Android phone. Digital privacy is a concern among consumers. While it isn’t possible to completely ditch Google from your life, you can take the necessary steps toprotect your digital privacy on Android.
