News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by bastawhiz on Monday May 01, 2023 @10:53AM (#35773600)
Tech literate folks, especially authorities, need to be so careful with what they get the public scared of. Get people scared about reusing passwords or not setting up 2FA. Warning folks about fringe concerns like juice jacking does nothing to meaningfully improve the safety or privacy of the general public, it only serves to get clicks (scary new thing! find out!) and desensitize people to warnings about real threats.
Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by ElevenLathe on Monday May 01, 2023 @11:28AM (#35774190)
Fear of this threat may be the thing keeping it from being a big deal. If nobody cared to protect against it was commonplace to use public USB ports to charge your phone, it would be much more attractive for attackers. On the other hand, just not using public USB outlets or keeping a charge-only cable in your bag are pretty cheap countermeasures. Most people charge their phone while they're sleeping so the AC adapter or special cable can stay in their bedroom/luggage/hotel room. It's really not a big deal.
Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by Fatnino on Monday May 01, 2023 @12:51PM (#35775534)
Why would anyone want to use a grungy, slow charging public usb port and be stuck in some place for however long it takes to get frustrated that it isn't filling your phone fast enough?

Get a power bank. They are cheap and even the large ones weigh no more than a pound. They have enough juice to get any phone through a day or 2 of use. You bring it with you everywhere and you never have to think about the battery level in your phone. Notice it's low (single digit percent battery) while out and about, plug in the powerbank and carry on being out and about.

The idea that I would use a public charger attached to a garbage can that I would then need to sit next to for an hour is crazy.

Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by ElevenLathe on Monday May 01, 2023 @01:16PM (#35775972)
I've only ever seen them in airports (where people frequently sit for an hour or more between flights) or in hotel rooms. I've never seen one on a trash can or somewhere that you wouldn't already be waiting for something.

A few years back there was a startup that had kiosks in grocery stores to charge while you shopped (locked into a little cubby hole), but those seem to have disappeared too.

Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by codyb on Monday May 01, 2023 @02:21PM (#35776948)
Plenty of homeless people, tourists, people who’ve just been out too long on a single charge and need 5 minutes of juice to get them to their next destination, delivery workers. It’s a nice thing to make cities friendlier, along with things like free wifi, water fountains, benches, and restrooms.
Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by CaptainZapp on Monday May 01, 2023 @02:34PM (#35777147)
I find USB ports in plane seats very convenient.

You're anyway stuck in your seat and chances are good that you're low on juice during a day of traveling.

Same goes for trains. Alas, they usually have power outlets.

Given that my boarding passes, train tickets and other vital information is on my phone having power is essential.

As a light traveller I don't want to schlepp an additional gadget.

To each his own, I suppose.

Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by lozenge on Monday May 01, 2023 @06:30PM (#35780145)
You need the victim to press "trust this computer" or similar on their phone display, unless you have a zero day vulnerability up your sleeve.

If you let the phone display the prompt, you might infect a couple people but somebody will soon tell the shop staff, or even the police.

If you have a zero day then you are probably targeting some particular people, let's say diplomats, protestors or attendees of an important international conference. The chances of the average person being a victim of these attacks because they charged their phone at a cafe are negligible.

Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by hot_gril on Monday May 01, 2023 @07:13PM (#35780619)
> If nobody cared to protect against it was commonplace to use public USB ports to charge your phone

Many airports, planes, and other public areas have these USB charging ports. Either people are using them, or a lot of money is being spent for no reason.

Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by hot_gril on Monday May 01, 2023 @11:34AM (#35774292)
It's more like, I ignore government orgs like the FCC giving warnings. I don't care if my phone says incoming missile strike, it's probably a false alarm, and I disabled those anyway.
Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by asynchronous on Monday May 01, 2023 @11:24AM (#35774115)
This times a thousand. It’s still the low hanging fruit getting the average citizen and if we had proper controls we could mitigate a lot of the damage people feel from database leaks and account compromises.
Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by hot_gril on Monday May 01, 2023 @11:31AM (#35774237)
Many 2FA implementations are user-hostile. I wouldn't blame the users.

IDK about Android, but iPhones are now randomly generating passwords and storing them in Keychain, which has its own user-friendly 2FA. Solves the password-sharing problem. There's also authentication via Apple. Yeah it's first-party proprietary stuff; there are third-party solutions too, but they're harder for regular people to deal with.

Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by asynchronous on Monday May 01, 2023 @11:42AM (#35774426)
Point being you don’t see the federal agency announcements typically talking about basic solutions like that: you see them warning about edge case attacks like juice jacking.
Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by hot_gril on Monday May 01, 2023 @12:10PM (#35774887)
Yeah, for some reason govt agencies in particular always pick weird things to warn people about. Security advice from the government is also questionable since they spy too.
Re:Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hot... by WeylandYutani on Monday May 01, 2023 @03:41PM (#35778062)
Gotta help Apple sell expensive chargers and thwart EU legislation on USB standards.