Juice Jacking - a potential issue for Apple devices?

[krs]

I must be living under a rock - first I heard of this.

What is ‘juice jacking’? Don’t use public charging stations, say experts - National | Globalnews.ca

Charging your dwindling battery at a public charging station, like those found in malls and airports, could put your data at risk.

globalnews.ca

 

[Raz0rEdge]

This just came up recently from our CISO and could be an avenue for issues. Best to use your own charger for sure.

It's amazing how creative people will get when they're trying to defraud others.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

One thing that would be worthwhile to try is to use an USB cable that only has power and ground pins. USB has 4 pins, power and ground are at the end, the data lines (D+ and D-) are in the middle ones.

If you use a power-only USB cable then you don't negotiate the amount of power needed as defined in the USB spec, but most chargers ignore this and just dump power anyway.

So if these public chargers work that way, you get the power, and with out the data lines, no data could ever be stolen..

 

[pm-r]

I must be living under a rock - first I heard of this.

I must admit I felt about the same way when I first read the article this morning.

I also wondered how any Mac's built-in security could be breached by charging any of one's portable Apple products or iDevices.

Or if in doubt, just use a charging cable that doesn't allow any type of data to pass through.

I also wonder who would be loading or baiting such charging stations in the first place or even why...

But as Raz0rEdge stated, there's usually always someone with nefarious motives whether they work or not...

EDIT: my apologies Raz0rEdge, I see you posted the same power-only cable suggestion while I was typing.



- Patrick
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[Lifeisabeach]

Oh I've known about this for at least 10 years. I think it's less concerning for iDevices as long as you are sensible. If you plug it in and are asked if you want to trust this device, the obvious answer is NO!

 

[MacInWin]

I'm with LIAB, this has been around at least 10 years, maybe 15. And as he said, for an iDevice, just don't trust it and you can safely charge.

 

[krs]

I'm with LIAB, this has been around at least 10 years, maybe 15. And as he said, for an iDevice, just don't trust it and you can safely charge.

Yes.... according to the article, the term "Juice Jacking" was created in 2011, ie 12 years ago, thus my comment about living under a rock.
I assume this is not actually a "big" issue over the years or one would have heard more about it in the media.

 

[Jimmysb]

The UK military have been warning about using "unknown" USB devices for years, and only authorised USB devices are allowed on Military hardware, so it makes sence that Public charging stations can be compromised. I am sure most are safe, but di you want to risk that you chose to use the wrong one.

 

[Rod]

Don't "Trust" unknown USB charge outlets, use Qi chargers where available (they are becoming more common) or carry a portable charger as I do when travelling, you can charge them at any USB outlet.