Image by Paola Mira - Kaspersky Lab’s research reveals that charging your smartphone into a computer is enough to get your private data hacked
- Private data include the phone’s name, manufacturer, serial number, device type, and other basic smartphone information
- Kaspersky says there are some ways to protect yourself from cyber-attacks
Plugging and charging your smartphone into your computer is enough to get you hacked, according to Sophie Curtis’ article in Mirror.
In a recently conducted research of Kaspersky Lab, an international software security group operating worldwide, they found out that they could install third-party applications onto the smartphone like Android or iPhone to steal private data.
Kaspersky Lab researchers added that it only took under three minutes to complete the process of hacking.
Private data includes the phone’s name, phone’s manufacturer, type of device, its serial number, firmware information, operating system information, file system, and even a list of files.
Kaspersky Lab added that hacking can also be done through connecting to public Wi-Fi on airports, cafés, or on public transportations, as stated on Madhumita Murgia’s article on The Telegraph.
According to the software security company, these mobile information may seem fairly harmless. However, these basic set of information can be easily tailored by hackers to enable them to attack a specific device. It can be a security risk if the hackers silently packed the device with anything from adware to identity theft. It can also be dangerous if the user is someone who decides in a big company.
According to them, this kind of users could easily become targets of professional hackers. They added that the person does not even have to be highly-skilled to perform such hacking attacks because all the information needed can be found on the Internet.
The group cited recent examples such as the cyber espionage campaign dubbed as “Red October” in 2013 which employed a similar method of loading a smartphone with malware and viruses while it was connected to a computer. This was done by the infamous Hacking Team group, wrote Aaron Brown of Express.co.uk.
But Kaspersky Lab said there are numerous ways to protect yourself and your device from cyber-attacks. They recommend users to charge only into trusted USB charging ports and computers, protect the device with passwords and encryption, and to install some type of antivirus software that is capable of detecting malware and viruses to avoid incidents like identity theft.
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