FBI warns of “Juice Jacking” – in other words they need funding
Have you heard how many of your friends found their phones compromised after using a public charging station? Really? That number is near zero? How strange… almost as if the USB/Lightning/Charging portion of your phone is pretty secure.
Now, not to say it isn’t possible. There were exploits in the past, but it’s not particularly probable. Someone also probably needs to update Wikipedia when they get a chance to provide all the FBI’s evidence that it’s in the wild.
There’s a product line to prevent Juice Jacking in public places. There are USB-C “Data Blockers” that only carry power if you’re interested. They come in USB-C and USB-A varieties it appears. I don’t see any MFI or Lightning connectors if you’re actually worried…which I wouldn’t be…
See, the issue here is a bad actor may have found an exploit for *a* phone. An exploit for an iPhone wouldn’t work with an Android. That’s the first thing that’s wrong with the FBI release – not releasing the phone that it’s supposedly attacking… it’s not “all phones” is it? No, it’s not.
The FBI releases something that says “we’ve found an exploit at airports that targets Android Lollipop devices” – I’ll believe that. You release a warning saying “exploits found, avoid charging for the next couple of months in public places until patches are released by Apple and Google” I’ll buy it… but an open ended warning of what has never been shown to happen anywhere except a research lab seems like 1) a bad warning, 2) they need attention as their funding is up for review.
It seems the FBI would also know that places where charging stations are – Airports, car dealerships – do not have free or working wall outlets… or if they do it’s maybe one plug to 15 people who need it.
It’s you isn’t it Frank? You’re trying to see how many people you can get into a fight at the Denver airport aren’t you?
