Juice Jacking: Squeezing your data out
Our constant need to be online and having smartphones with batteries that run out rather quickly often lead us to the imprudent decision of using public USB charging ports. This is all well and good until you realize that it is the quickest way to being juice jacked.
Juice Jacking may sound like a bodybuilder's ultimate dream of getting jacked up from drinking juice, but in reality, it is a far more sinister concept. Juice jacking refers to when your device gets infected with malware or has data stolen when you plug it into a public charging station or USB port.
More often than not, this happens because USB cables these days serve dual purposes as both charging cables and data transfer cables, and people often neglect to confirm whether the cable is actually charging the device or transferring data. But you can stay safe with just a little bit of awareness and common sense.
Here are some things you can do if you need to charge your device when you are traveling:
-Carry your own charger or power bank
-Check and disable data transfer when you plug in your device
-Turn your device off completely before plugging it in.
by R.C.
