Loads of juice-jacking scare tales, however treasured little juice-jacking • Graham Cluley

Travellers are being advised to be cautious when plugging their smartphones and laptops into USB chargers.

On Thursday final week, the official Twitter account of the FBI in Denver posted a warning:

“Keep away from utilizing free charging stations in airports, resorts or buying facilities. Unhealthy actors have discovered 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.”

Contemplating how widespread it’s to see folks crowding round plugs at airports, desperately charging their gadgets earlier than they embark on an extended flight, it’s hardly stunning that the FBI’s warning caught the creativeness of many within the media.

However, right here’s my query…

Has anybody ever truly had their smartphone “juice-jacked” within the real-world?

Sure, I can think about that the assault may be theoretically potential, and should you occur to be hanging out with a crowd of penetration testers there’s an opportunity somebody would possibly try to idiot you into plugging right into a malicious USB port that they’ve arrange…

…however at a public place? At an airport or buying centre?

Has the FBI (which kicked off this newest media spherical of curiosity in juice-jacking) ever truly seen a real-life occasion of somebody being maliciously hacked by a USB charger?

Have you ever, expensive reader, ever fallen sufferer to such an assault? In that case, I’d love to listen to from you. Go away a message within the feedback.

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Oh and by the way in which, the scare tales about juice-jacking are nothing new. Try this edition of the “Smashing Security” podcast from 2019, for example, the place cybercrime creator Geoff White and I focus on whether or not it’s actually as huge a deal as some have made out…

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