Out of home and the phone battery dies! What do you do, look for a public charging booth? Beware! Because researchers at security firm Kaspersky Labs have found that your smartphone can be easily hacked if you plug in your phone at those charging booths at public places like an airport or a cafe. A third-party application, like a virus, can be installed in your phone via the USB charger, which could be connected to a computer. The scariest part: It takes them as little as just three minutes to hack your phone.
The researchers tested a series of Android and iOS phones and found that many leaked a host of private data to the computer they were connected, including the device name, device manufacturer, device type, serial number and even a list of files.
“The security risks here are obvious: if you’re a regular user, you can be tracked through your device IDs; your phone could be silently packed with anything from adware to ransomware. And, if you’re a decision-maker in a big company, you could easily become the target of professional hackers,” Alexey Komarov, researcher at Kaspersky Lab said.
This idea was elaborated by hackers as a theory back in 2014, but it was never proven or investigated. But it’s not just a theory. In 2013, a group of miscreants called The Hacking Team Hackers infected a phone with malware through a computer connection. The Italian hackers procured the device model of the victim through a USB-connected computer. And today, when all our devices across phone, computer, and tabs are automatically synced, the job is much easier for the hackers.
Here are few points to keep in mind to safeguard your device:
Plug your phone only on trusted computer connections
Protect your mobile phone with an encrypted password, or with fingerprint recognition
Do not unlock your phone while charging if you gave no choice but to plug it in on a third-party computer
Use encrypted apps like WhatsApp and iMessage to communicate
Install antivirus application on your device
Update your mobile operating system regularly