KrebsOnSecurity acquired 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 information 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, resorts or buying facilities,” the FBI’s Denver workplace warned. “Dangerous actors have discovered methods to make use of public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software program onto units. Carry your individual charger and USB twine and use {an electrical} outlet as an alternative.”
5 days later, the Federal Communications Fee (FCC) issued an identical warning. “Suppose twice earlier than utilizing public charging stations,” the FCC tweeted. “Hackers may very well be ready to achieve entry to your private data by putting in malware and monitoring software program to your units. This rip-off is known as juice jacking.”
The FCC tweet additionally offered a hyperlink to the company’s consciousness web page on juice jacking, which was initially printed prematurely 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 had 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 Present 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 narrative right here about researchers on the DEFCON hacker conference in Vegas who’d arrange a cellular charging station designed to coach the unwary to the truth that many cellular units related to a pc would sync their knowledge by default.
Since then, Apple, Google and different cellular system makers have modified the best way their {hardware} and software program works in order that their units not routinely sync knowledge when one plugs them into a pc with a USB charging cable. As an alternative, customers are offered with a immediate asking in the event that they want to belief a related pc earlier than any knowledge switch can happen.
Then again, the expertise wanted to conduct a sneaky juice jacking assault has grow to be way more miniaturized, accessible and low-cost. And there are actually a number of merchandise anybody should buy which can be custom-built to allow juice jacking assaults.
Most likely 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 Safety, and one of many researchers who initially showcased the risk from juice jacking on the 2011 DEFCON. Markus mentioned he isn’t conscious of any public accounts of juice jacking kiosks being discovered within the wild, and mentioned he’s uncertain what prompted the latest FBI alert.
However Markus mentioned juice jacking remains to be a threat as a result of it’s far simpler and cheaper lately for would-be attackers to supply and construct the required gear.
“Since then, the expertise and parts have grow to be a lot smaller and really straightforward to construct, which places this within the palms of much less refined risk actors,” Markus mentioned. “Additionally, now you can purchase all these things over-the-counter. I feel the chance is probably 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 severely 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 primarily based 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 put up’ that stemmed from the FCC warning,” Snopes reported. “An FCC spokesperson informed Snopes that the fee needed to make it possible for 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 shoppers have probably the most up-to-date data.’ The official, who requested anonymity, added that they’d not seen any rise in cases of client complaints about juice-jacking.”
What are you able to do to keep away from juice jacking? Deliver your individual gear. A basic rule of thumb in safety is that if an adversary has bodily entry to your system, you possibly can not belief the safety or integrity of that system. This additionally goes for issues that plug into your units.
Juice jacking isn’t potential if a tool is charged by way of a trusted AC adapter, battery backup system, or via a USB cable with solely energy wires and no knowledge wires current. Should you lack these items in a bind and nonetheless want to make use of a public charging kiosk or random pc, no less than energy your system off earlier than plugging it in.
