I know the feeling: Your battery is low, but you have to keep tweeting. You see a USB port or an outlet in public, plug in your device and feel the sweet relief of your phone charging.

That comfort could be shattered by an invisible attacker collecting information while your phone is plugged in to a hacked outlet.

“Just by plugging your phone into a [compromised] power strip or charger, your device is now infected, and that compromises all your data,” Drew Paik of security firm Authentic8 explained. Authentic8 makes Silo, a secure browser that anonymizes web activity.

Public charging stations and wi-fi access points are found in places like airports, planes, conference centers and parks, so people can always have access to their phones and data. But connecting your phone to an unknown port has its risks.

The cord you use to charge your phone is also used to send data from your phone to other devices.

If a port is compromised, there’s no limit to what information a hacker could take, Paik explained.

And yet despite the risks, people do it all the time. Even at prominent security conferences.

The company ran an informal social experiment to see how many people would use the public charging stations. Paik said an overwhelming number of attendees — about 80% — connected their phones without asking about the security.

“The majority are plugging in no problem. They are at a security conference and they should know better, but they probably feel safe,” he said. “The others are making fun of them. They just walk by and say, ‘Do people really do that?’”

I like a few things i see so now i am following you.
Look ahead to considering your web page for any second time.

Security company Kaspersky Lab points out that downloading a smartphone via USB includes a variety of risks.

Security Company notes that the USB interface is designed for charging, but also for data transfer. Because of this, every time the device is connected to the USB port, it will try to handshake and establish a connection. Even at this data transfer takes place, of course.

While the phone is in charging mode – when data transmission is blocked – data is still transferred between your phone and the host device. The amount of this data depends on your platform and operating system.

At least the master device goes information about a device, the manufacturer’s name and serial number of the device.

The problem is that this information can be AT commands used to capture the SIM card telephone number and contact information. Since then, the attacker can call any phone number at the expense of the SIM card owner.

The important thing to remember is that you never know what the unknown USB port can do to your phone.

Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4517:kannykan-usb-lataaminen-on-vaarallista&catid=13&Itemid=101

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Charging your smartphone’s battery over USB can be dangerous
https://blog.kaspersky.com/usb-battery-charging-unsecurity/12206/

Chances are that each of us has found ourselves in a situation where our phone is dying and we have no charger on hand, but at the same time we desperately need to stay connected — to answer an important call, receive a text message or email, whatever.

It is perfectly normal to look for any source of precious electricity on such occasion — any USB port would do. But is it safe? No. In fact, it can be dangerous: Over a USB connection someone can steal your files, infect your smartphone with something nasty — or even brick it.

https://blog.kaspersky.com/usb-battery-charging-unsecurity/12206/

USBCondom
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USB Condom is a product from information security R&D consultancy and product development company Xipiter.