How can a public USB charging station be manipulated by criminals to put a virus on my phone?
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It would require a screwup (or intentional malfeasance) on the part of the designers of the public power station. Which is not all that unlikely, unfortunately.
A properly designed public charging station will not allow a data connection between the devices. They should all be airgapped from a data standpoint. But the usb standard does allow for data transfer so… it’s perfectly possible to build one that tries to talk to your device, or allows the various devices to talk to one another.
It would require a screwup (or intentional malfeasance) on the part of the designers of the public power station. Which is not all that unlikely, unfortunately.
A properly designed public charging station will not allow a data connection between the devices. They should all be airgapped from a data standpoint. But the usb standard does allow for data transfer so… it’s perfectly possible to build one that tries to talk to your device, or allows the various devices to talk to one another.
It would require a screwup (or intentional malfeasance) on the part of the designers of the public power station. Which is not all that unlikely, unfortunately.
A properly designed public charging station will not allow a data connection between the devices. They should all be airgapped from a data standpoint. But the usb standard does allow for data transfer so… it’s perfectly possible to build one that tries to talk to your device, or allows the various devices to talk to one another.
But can a criminal put malware or spyware into a public charging plug? I mean they’re built into the wall or a booth or chair or support column or something. How would someone get access to it to make it run bad programs?
The same way as a stranger (public person) can feed you bad stuff in candies. Do not accept anything from strangers!
But can a criminal put malware or spyware into a public charging plug? I mean they’re built into the wall or a booth or chair or support column or something. How would someone get access to it to make it run bad programs?
The same way as a stranger (public person) can feed you bad stuff in candies. Do not accept anything from strangers!
But can a criminal put malware or spyware into a public charging plug? I mean they’re built into the wall or a booth or chair or support column or something. How would someone get access to it to make it run bad programs?
The same way as a stranger (public person) can feed you bad stuff in candies. Do not accept anything from strangers!
Good answers in here, but I’d like to add we aren’t aware of this happening for real yet. It’s been done at hacker conferences, and some unsubstantiated reports in the eastern US.
The fact that the FBI and FCC are saying something likely means they know of a way to do this, likely with some fake overlay like the old ATM skimmers.
ELI5: it’s like when your mom says you are going to poke your eye out with that BB gun. May never happen, but not bad advice to follow.
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