Juice Jacking

 

Smart phone users might have confronted with the problem of their phone getting switched off due to battery charge getting empty rather the relief quickly than normal. And the relief obtained while plugging the same device to a USB charging port found in airports, hotels, shopping malls etc. is immense. While thanking the public charging kiosk be careful of one thing; sometimes the ‘price’ incurred for charging the devices may be the retrieval of the information in our phone. This is referred to as Juice Jacking.

                                                                                                                                       

Technically speaking, juice jacking is one of the easiest ways for accessing personal as well as corporate data. Remember that while connecting the phone to the public charging port in the aforementioned places there are not just charging lines in USB charging but data lines as well which could get connected. If a sniffer device too has been associated with this setup/system, chances are pretty high that data is leaked via the USB connector. Contacts, Messages, Videos and many other sensitive data will get transferred. Instant transfer of data and its continuation, creation of pairing record and installation of malware are all possible via this sniffers.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) in a smartphone is a four connected plug n play input-output port. Among those, two viz Data Positive (D+) & data Negative (D-) are data lines. Not only for charging, but also for data transfer these ports which are put into use. The sniffer which is installed / covered in the usb charging station can easily establish connection with the smartphone plugged in for charging. Once established, data is automatically synchronised with the system.

HOW TO AVOID JUICE JACKING?

1.       Try maximum to charge smartphone from home itself.

2.       Carry a powerbank along with you while traveling.

3.       Preserve the extra battery obtained along with premium / high end phones.

4.       Try to charge the phone via direct electric plug in instead of usb cables.

5.       If at all connected to a usb charging port, keep the phone switched off (still its prone to data miss).

Even though juice jacking is not that concerning for basic users, still others able to access our data is dangerous. Always prevention is better than cure!!