Temporary vasectomy snips data pins to stop spaffed malware infecting smartmobes
A US-based chap has invented a gadget he's calling a USB condom.
The prophylactic dongle is advanced as protection for the largely hypothetical problem of malware injection from fake USB chargers.
Such polluted ports come in two varieties. The first got an airing at Black Hat, where researchers demonstrated a USB charger that concealed malware-injecting mini computers. The demo imagines that villains would swap genuine chargers for their fakes and when unsuspecting punters seek some electrons they'll instead get some malware.
Similar attacks have since been imagined in the public realm, where USB charging stations are becoming more prevalent. Your correspondent's recent traversal of the new international terminal at Los Angeles Airport, for example, was made tolerable by the presence of USB ports nestled beneath hundreds of new seats in the waiting lounge. Various commentators have wondered out loud what would happen if such installations were subverted.
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Chap unrolls 'USB condom' to protect against viruses
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Brad Chacos Aug 27, 2014
Crowdfunded hardware ideas sputter out all too often, but a particularly intriguing one just became reality. The—ahem—USB Condom is now shipping, ready to protect your dongles from infected ports for $10 a pop.
Despite the cutesy name, the USB Condom protects a very real potential danger: "Juice-jacking." Juice-jacking refers to the practice of stealing data or uploading malware onto your devices when they're being charged in a malicious USB port. It's not a widespread threat, but security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski claims to have seen these attacks in the wild after the exploit was highlighted at the Defcon security convention in 2011.
Full Article
Crowdfunded hardware ideas sputter out all too often, but a particularly intriguing one just became reality. The—ahem—USB Condom is now shipping, ready to protect your dongles from infected ports for $10 a pop.
Despite the cutesy name, the USB Condom protects a very real potential danger: "Juice-jacking." Juice-jacking refers to the practice of stealing data or uploading malware onto your devices when they're being charged in a malicious USB port. It's not a widespread threat, but security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski claims to have seen these attacks in the wild after the exploit was highlighted at the Defcon security convention in 2011.
Full Article
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