KrebsOnSecurity obtained a pleasant bump in visitors this week due to tweets from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Federal Communications Fee (FCC) about “juice jacking,” a time period first coined right here in 2011 to explain a possible risk of knowledge theft when one plugs their cellular system right into a public charging kiosk. It stays unclear what could have prompted the alerts, however the excellent news is that there are some pretty staple items you are able to do to keep away from having to fret about juice jacking.
On April 6, 2023, the FBI’s Denver workplace issued a warning about juice jacking in a tweet.
“Keep away from utilizing free charging stations in airports, lodges or procuring facilities,” the FBI’s Denver workplace warned. “Unhealthy actors have found out methods to make use of public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software program onto gadgets. Carry your individual charger and USB wire and use {an electrical} outlet as a substitute.”
5 days later, the Federal Communications Fee (FCC) issued the same warning. “Assume twice earlier than utilizing public charging stations,” the FCC tweeted. “Hackers might be ready to achieve entry to your private info by putting in malware and monitoring software program to your gadgets. This rip-off is known as juice jacking.”
The FCC tweet additionally supplied a hyperlink to the agency’s awareness page on juice jacking, which was initially printed upfront of the Thanksgiving Vacation in 2019 however was up to date in 2021 after which once more shortly after the FBI’s tweet was picked up by the information media. The alerts have been so broadly and breathlessly coated within the press {that a} point out of juice jacking even made it into this week’s Late Late Show with James Corden.
The time period juice jacking crept into the collective paranoia of gadget geeks in the summertime of 2011, due to the headline for a story here about researchers on the DEFCON hacker conference in Vegas who’d arrange a cellular charging station designed to coach the unwary to the fact that many cellular gadgets linked to a pc would sync their knowledge by default.
Since then, Apple, Google and different cellular system makers have modified the way in which their {hardware} and software program works in order that their gadgets now not routinely sync knowledge when one plugs them into a pc with a USB charging cable. As a substitute, customers are offered with a immediate asking in the event that they want to belief a linked pc earlier than any knowledge switch can happen.
However, the know-how wanted to conduct a sneaky juice jacking assault has turn out to be way more miniaturized, accessible and low-cost. And there at the moment are a number of merchandise anybody should purchase which might be custom-built to allow juice jacking assaults.
In all probability the most effective identified instance is the OMG cable, a $180 hacking system made for skilled penetration testers that appears kind of like an Apple or generic USB charging cable. However contained in the OMG cable is a tiny reminiscence chip and a Wi-Fi transmitter that creates a Wi-Fi hotspot, to which the attacker can remotely join utilizing a smartphone app and run instructions on the system.
The $180 “OMG cable.” Picture: hak5.org.
Brian Markus is co-founder of Aries Security, and one of many researchers who initially showcased the risk from juice jacking on the 2011 DEFCON. Markus stated he isn’t conscious of any public accounts of juice jacking kiosks being discovered within the wild, and stated he’s not sure what prompted the latest FBI alert.
However Markus stated juice jacking remains to be a danger as a result of it’s far simpler and cheaper today for would-be attackers to supply and construct the mandatory tools.
“Since then, the know-how and elements have turn out to be a lot smaller and really straightforward to construct, which places this within the arms of much less refined risk actors,” Markus stated. “Additionally, now you can purchase all these things over-the-counter. I feel the chance is presumably greater now than it was a decade in the past, as a result of a a lot bigger inhabitants of individuals can now pull this off simply.”
How significantly ought to we take the latest FBI warning? An investigation by the myth-busting web site Snopes suggests the FBI tweet was only a public service announcement based mostly on a dated advisory. Snopes reached out to each the FBI and the FCC to request knowledge about how widespread the specter of juice jacking is in 2023.
“The FBI replied that its tweet was a ‘customary PSA-type submit’ that stemmed from the FCC warning,” Snopes reported. “An FCC spokesperson informed Snopes that the fee wished to ensure that their advisory on “juice-jacking,” first issued in 2019 and later up to date in 2021, was up-to-date in order to make sure ‘the customers have probably the most up-to-date info.’ The official, who requested anonymity, added that that they had not seen any rise in situations of client complaints about juice-jacking.”
What are you able to do to keep away from juice jacking? Deliver your individual gear. A normal rule of thumb in safety is that if an adversary has bodily entry to your system, you’ll be able to now not belief the safety or integrity of that system. This additionally goes for issues that plug into your gadgets.
Juice jacking isn’t attainable if a tool is charged through a trusted AC adapter, battery backup system, or via a USB cable with solely energy wires and no knowledge wires current. In case you lack these items in a bind and nonetheless want to make use of a public charging kiosk or random pc, at the very least energy your system off earlier than plugging it in.
