If you travel frequently you know that awful feeling, your battery is running out and you need a charge. Many airports, convention centers, and public places now have public charging stations. A free charging station may seem like a lifesaver, but beware, it could leave you vulnerable. Hackers could rig those stations to watch every move you make while connected, according to security experts. “You go into your online banking application to take a photo of a check, well that’s recorded…When you connect to your contacts, all of that is recorded. If you do an e-mail or a text, everything on the screen is 100 percent recorded,” said Brian Markus, who discovered the threat along with colleagues. Markus is the CEO of cybersecurity company Aries Security. The researchers call the threat video jacking. “From the moment that you plug in that cable to the moment that you unplug, that cable is exposed and recorded,” he said.
Here is how it works: The cybercriminal needs to hide an HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) splitter and recorder in the charging station. Most smartphones are now HDMI-enabled so you can share images from the phone onto a TV. Once plugged in, the station uses the built in HDMI to record everything done on the smartphone without the users knowledge.
To protect yourself, bring your own charging cable and plug it into an outlet. Carrying a battery pack will also protect your personal information. For more on this story, click here.