A malware is surreptitiously sneaked through these charging points into the phone, and personal data is extracted and relayed to the malicious intruder.
City Police commissioner Sanjay Barve's advisory tweet on Monday, saying: 'Home is where you charge your phones' attracted many eyeballs. It was intended to warn citizens about 'juice jacking' — a new type of cyber attack that compromises the data found on mobile phones when they are being charged at public charging stations.
A malware is surreptitiously sneaked through these charging points into the phone, and personal data is extracted and relayed to the malicious intruder.
The police have clarified that the warning is just a pre-emptive measure as no case of juice-jacking has been reported in the city yet. However forewarned is forearmed, and they see a need to alert those who rely on public charging centres. A precaution would be to look for an electrical socket behind the charging station.
Cybercrime expert Ritesh Bhatia says the police vigilance is not misplaced as juice jacking is a matter of serious concern. "Charging points for mobile phones are commonly found at airports, cafeteria and bus stations," says Bhatia, "But most of these places have USB cables and not adapters attached to wall sockets. This camouflages the potential presence of malicious devices through which malware could invade your phone, hack it and extract sensitive data."
"Even though we haven't registered any case of juice jacking, but we have to be prepared. It is definitely a threat and the cyber police are working out possible ways to alert the people and deal with such cyber attacks," said Mumbai Police spokesperson Manjunath Singe.
Juice Gone Sour
- Malware is sneaked through public charging points into the cell phone, and personal data is extracted
- Police say warning is a pre-emptive measure and no case of juice-jacking has been reported in the city yet
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