Charging our smartphone on public USB is a very bad idea

Smartphone battery continues to be, and for now will continue to be, a problem that will force us to have to charge the device every day at night. But sometimes, depending on the use and condition of the battery, it may be at noon or in the afternoon we are at minimum levels.

In shopping centers, coffee shops, airports and other places we have at our disposal different USB ports that allow us to charge our smartphone for a period, which we consider necessary, to be able to continue the march. The problem is that you do not know where we are connecting our smartphone, whether to a charger or a computer that can access our smartphone.

At first we may think that this type of service is very good, but if we don't stop to think for a second, what at first seems like a lifeline for our smartphone, and for us in general, becomes a security and privacy issue, since we do not really know what or who is behind the cable to which we are connecting our smartphone, therefore, giving almost complete permission to it.

What's behind the public USB ports?

The firm Kaspersky carried out an investigation in 2014, in which it verified how all device information, Android, Windows Phone or iOS could be accessed by connecting it to a USB port charging, of those that we find in shopping centers and other public establishments, since through them, you can access the entire terminal, having access to the information of the connected smartphone system, personal data of the computer, the components ...

How to avoid security problems with public USBs

This type of information is only the beginning, since it can reach all the data, encrypted or not that we have stored on our smartphone, so if we find ourselves in the need to use a public USB, we must take into account a series of recommendations.

  • Turn off your phone at all times. By turning it off, we not only prevent them from accessing the information stored in our terminal, but we will also make our smartphone charge faster than if we have it turned on and we are using it.
  • If we want to have the smartphone turned on, or we have no choice because we are waiting to receive a call or message, we must try do not unlock the phone, a reason that would facilitate access to our smartphone, if someone is behind the charging port.
  • Use applications like LastPass or 1Password to protect all the important information stored on our smartphone, so that in case they can access our smartphone, the information obtained is encrypted and they cannot access it at any time.
  • If it is an Android smartphone, it goes without saying that our smartphone should always be clean of applications that can pose a security risk. The best way to do this is by installing only applications available in the Play Store, in addition to not enabling the installation of Unknown Sources, available within the security settings.
  • If at any time, when connecting our smartphone to a USB port, asks us if we want to give access to any type of information about it, you have to refuse completely, since at no time do you need a sad charger or third-party device to know where we are, access our contacts, photos, call history ... This is usually more common to find in rental vehicles, since depending on what companies, we can be a very valuable source of information with which to trade in the future.
  • In relation to the above, if we decide to synchronize the data with the multimedia system of the rental vehicle, because we are going to use it for a long period and we want to enjoy the comfort that it offers us, we must always remember to erase all data related to the device that we have synchronized.

As you have seen, you don't have to be a genius or a security expert, to know what are the potential risks that we can find when using a USB charging port of any public establishment that we use. We must always read all the information that is shown to us on the screen each time we connect our smartphone to a charger of this type, since the operating system itself is in charge of granting or renewing permissions at will.

Solution to battery problems

In these cases, it is when have an external battery, batteries that are currently very cheap and that we can find from 10 euros with a fairly decent load capacity, it becomes an accessory that we should all carry, otherwise we want to be stranded and cut off because we run out of battery.

To consider

Slow Wifi connection

Another aspect that we must also take into account is found in the connections Public Wifi that are not protected, which, as a general rule, are usually found in the same places where there are public USBs. As long as possible, we must avoid using this type of information at all times, to prevent a friend from outside, from accessing the passwords of the services we use at any given time, such as Facebook, bank applications, etc. . If we are only going to use it to consult Safari or send some other message through the different messaging platforms there will be no security problem, neither for us nor for ourselves. Still, try to avoid them as much as possible.


Be the first to comment

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.