Never do this with your phone in public, warns the FBI
This too common practice has major security problems.
Ourmobile phones Go with us almost everywhere now, from room to room in our houses to our races and daily meetings outside the house. Most of us are not worried about losing our phone or dragging it by thieves, but there are other security problems that we probably didn't even take into account. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is now looking to warn more Americans than keeping a watchful eye on their devices around foreigners. Read more to find out what the agency says you should never do with your public in public.
Read this then:The FBI says that all Americans must take these precautions in a new urgent warning.
The FBI recently gave several warnings related to the Americans.
This is far from the first warning that the FBI gave on our phones. In April 2021, the agency published aMessage of public interest In New England, warning that the crooks called people and pretended to be representatives of government agencies. The agency said that this conference had to convince the victims that accusations had been deposited against them unless they were paid.
Then in January of this year, the FBI issued a warning to urging people to be wary of the use of their device to scan without confidenceQR codes in public. According to the FBI, "cybercriminals take advantage of this technology by directing QR code analyzes to malware to steal victim data, integrating malware to access the victim's device and redirecting payment for use cybercriminal. "
Of course, this is not the only thing you should not do with your phone in public.
The agency has another warning for phone users.
Since we take our phones everywhere and use them constantly, most of us have run at some point in the inevitable problem to kill the battery while we are on the go. But if you have not brought a charger with you, do not be tempted to use an option available. The FBI in factwarns people against Use of free telephone charging stations that you can see at airports, hotels or shopping centers.
"The bad players have found ways to use public USB ports to introduce malware and monitor software on devices that access these ports," warns the agency.
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This type of cybercrime is a relatively new security problem.
The Federal Commission Commission (FCC) has issued a warning on this subject "New cyber-voltage tactics"In 2021, referring to" Juice Jacking ". According to the agency, malicious software installed by crooks on public USB charging stations can lock your device as well as the export of personal data and passwords from your telephone." It is easy to modify the output out if the attacker has physical access, "Vyas Sekar, PHD, professor at Cylab, a research institute on security and privacy of Carnegie Mellon University, saidThe New York Times.AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB
Once they have obtained your personal information, the crooks will use it to access your online accounts or sell it to other criminals, according to the FCC. "A free charge could finishVidain your bank account, "Luke Sisak, an assistant district prosecutor of the Los Angeles County District Office, said in a fraud alert video in 2019.
Officials urge people to take action to avoid being victims of this crime.
There are certain signs that free charging stations have been compromised. According to the FCC, criminals sometimes leave cables connected to these stations, butThe New York Times Raised crooks could even offer infected cables as a promotional gift. "You can easily mark these things so that you can make it look like any other cable,"Liviu Arsène, a cybersecurity expert at Bitdefender, a Romanian company of cybersecurity and antivirus software, told the newspaper. "When people see it, they don't really think or expect it to be malicious in any way."
In the end, the safest bet according to the FBI is to "transport your own USB charger and cord and use an electrical outlet instead".
If you need to use one of these free charging stations, the FCC advises you to wear a load cable only, "which prevents data from sending or receiving during the load, from a trusted supplier ". Sekar also saidThe New York Times that consumers can buy and use protection devices called "USB condoms" which can be fixed on USB cables.
"They essentially deactivate the data pin on the USB charger," said Sekar, noting that this means that the device will take care of, but that the cable will not be able to send or receive data. "For less than five dollars, you can buy it, and it can really save you."
