Juice Jacking

Juice Jacking



    It was April 2012. I was travelling with my daughter to Singapore. After taking the boarding pass           from the check in counter and completing rest of the security checks, we boarded the plane. My seat     was behind two rows from my daughter's seat. A gentleman was sitting in the window seat near her.        Prima facie, he seemed to be working at the Government Intelligence Bureau. He was busy working     on his iPad. It took a while for the take-off of the aircraft.


Since my daughter was small, she did not feel as comfortable enough to sit close to a stranger. I requested him to exchange the seats. He immediately agreed. I sat by the window seat near my daughter.

Just a few days ago, I started using Smartphone. So I was particularly excited to use WhatsApp and Facebook. I took my phone. But its battery was only 15% left. The phone needed charging. I got the charger out of my handbag, removed the charger's AC adapter and connected it to the USB port on the back of my front seat. We got a takeoff announcement. While charging I put the mobile phone on aero plane mode and sat comfortably watching the movie on the front screen.

After five hours, landing on Singapore airport, I disconnected mobile along with charger from the USB charging station and kept it in handbag. Since then, my mobile had been hanged twice and reset automatically. I ignored it as I was not habitual of using a Smartphone and even didn't have much knowledge about the same.

After coming home, I got the mobile repaired and cleaned through a mobile repair shop.
This incident took place 7 years back and I forgot it. A few days ago, one of my friends, an IT expert in United States, suggested me to write an article about juice jacking. I remembered this incident while collecting information about it.

Stealing data from the smart devices and / or copying malware (virus) into those devices using charging points on airports, aero planes and railway stations is called juice jacking. The malware copied can control that device completely.

A small computerized unit is installed inside this USB charging point to enable Juice Jacking. Usually the USB cable is used for charging as well as data transfer. So it’s possible to copy the data. The cases of Juice Jacking have been found since 2011.

The incident that took place with me is nothing but Juice Jacking. I understood it too late. In fact, there was nothing to steal in my phone. But most probably, the person previously sitting on my seat should have some secret information and to steal the same, a hacker installed a small system for Juice Jacking in the USB port.

There is a need to take some precautions to avoid Juice Jacking of devices like laptops, smart phones, tablets etc.

- No smart devices should be charged using the public USB ports.

- If required, Charge the devices using an electric socket rather than a USB port.

- You can make use of a power bank.

- If charging is very much needed and only if the USB port is available then the smart device should    be switched off before charging.
  

Be careful and Stay safe.


©Kavita Datar





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