With USB-C, even plugging in can set you up to be hacked
Jeremy Straub, North Dakota State University Plugging in the power – or at least what you think is power – to a USB-C powered laptop can connect your computer, and the valuable personal data on it, directly to hackers. Your personal financial information, passwords and documents stored on the laptop could help a cybercriminal steal your identity. The laptop may even be used to attack your employer’s computers and network. The European Union is already moving to require all smartphones be compatible with USB-C power adapters – itself a move that endangers users’ privacy. If the EU made a similar…
Could this plug bring both power and peril? Alexander Evgenyevich/Shutterstock.com
Jeremy Straub, North Dakota State University
Plugging in the power – or at least what you think is power – to a USB-C powered laptop can connect your computer, and the valuable personal data on it, directly to hackers. Your personal financial information, passwords and documents stored on the laptop could help a cybercriminal steal your identity. The laptop may even be used to attack your employer’s computers and network.
The European Union is already moving to require all smartphones be compatible with USB-C power adapters – itself a move that endangers users’ privacy. If the EU made a similar standard for laptop computers, it would threaten to make the problem worse, by increasing the number of people vulnerable to what is basically the digital equivalent of pick-pocketing.
From mobile phones to laptops
Public phone chargers and USB ports can be a threat to mobile phones, if they are modified to attack them. AP Photo/Jessica Hill
Mobile phones have been hackers’ targets for years. Phones that are left behind or stolen can contain sensitive personal data that can let a criminal open a new bank account or take out a loan.
However, a far more insidious way to get the data is to simply connect to the phone and steal everything it holds. As the phone is not lost, the user may be unaware that anything is wrong. Attackers try to get access to mobile phones via their internet connections and local wireless connection technologies like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
But some attackers are finding a weakness in phone charging. Many newer phones use the same port – one of several types of USB – for both connecting to a computer and charging. A charger could be modified to attack your phone via that trusted connection. This has led some researchers to recommend never using public USB chargers for your smartphone.
Older mobile phones, including some smartphones, that used power-only connections didn’t have to worry about this issue. Users of these devices can plug in to public multi-device charging stations without worry, as there is no connection to the device’s data. For those with combined data and power ports, however, the same port that many people only use to power the
Audit Manager at Central Bedfordshire Council.
3moI would have expected them to carry out a DNA test before allowing the cat access, how did they know it was the real Larry :)