3 ms·

Think twice before using a phone charging kiosk

16 points by white_raven 14y ago

byoung2 14y ago
If you find yourself in need of a charging station, the team behind this experiment found that most phones don’t give up information when the phone is powered off. Most phones? Can someone provide examples of phones that offer data connectivity when the phone is powered off?
- jmount 14y ago
  Don't iPhones start up on application of power?
  - maxjus 14y ago
    Only if they are totally dead. If you just power your phone off normally, it will stay turned off until you hold the power button.
milkshakes 14y ago
[x] Link-bait title [x] Unsubstantiated fear mongering [x] Absence of any specific technical details [x] Secondhand, factually inaccurate reporting [x] Primary source over 1 year old, and very much out of date Who actually upvoted this and why?
swatkat 14y ago
Original article at krebsonsecurity.com is over an year old: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2897356 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2897356 Re-submitted last week: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4951354 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4951354 Guess geek.com picked up this re-submission and churned an article out of it?? ;)
ronnier 14y ago
Maybe phones should provide a "charge only" setting that can be toggled on when using non-trusted devices to charge your phone?
- samsolomon 14y ago
  My android does this when I plug it into my car to charge.
- rawrly 14y ago
  Many android phones do this, however not all. This is up to the specific ROM you are running. iOS devices have put in a phenomenal effort to secure against these attacks, including requiring encryption keys before allowing unknown computers to access the device or data.
rawrly 14y ago
Agreed this is an article churn for advertisement. Recently this attack was back in the news due to NSA referencing it in a mobile device security paper. BTW if anyone has questions about it, feel free to ask me. I'm the guy (along with friends) who was building these kiosks and deploying them at "hacker" conferences and then gave a presentation on the matter.
- milkshakes 14y ago
  i have some questions. how do i contact you?
  - rawrly 14y ago
    Email sent to you. Narf!
    - milkshakes 14y ago
      hm i never got it :( and i tested the address too since i don't use it much! i'd definitely love to chat though. an alternate just in case is jwb [at] tu [dot] nr

16 points by white_raven 14y ago

If you find yourself in need of a charging station, the team behind this experiment found that most phones don’t give up information when the phone is powered off. Most phones? Can someone provide examples of phones that offer data connectivity when the phone is powered off?

jmount 14y ago
Don't iPhones start up on application of power?
- maxjus 14y ago
  Only if they are totally dead. If you just power your phone off normally, it will stay turned off until you hold the power button.

milkshakes 14y ago

[x] Link-bait title [x] Unsubstantiated fear mongering [x] Absence of any specific technical details [x] Secondhand, factually inaccurate reporting [x] Primary source over 1 year old, and very much out of date Who actually upvoted this and why?

swatkat 14y ago

Original article at krebsonsecurity.com is over an year old: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2897356 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2897356 Re-submitted last week: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4951354 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4951354 Guess geek.com picked up this re-submission and churned an article out of it?? ;)

ronnier 14y ago

Maybe phones should provide a "charge only" setting that can be toggled on when using non-trusted devices to charge your phone?

samsolomon 14y ago
My android does this when I plug it into my car to charge.
rawrly 14y ago
Many android phones do this, however not all. This is up to the specific ROM you are running. iOS devices have put in a phenomenal effort to secure against these attacks, including requiring encryption keys before allowing unknown computers to access the device or data.

rawrly 14y ago

Agreed this is an article churn for advertisement. Recently this attack was back in the news due to NSA referencing it in a mobile device security paper. BTW if anyone has questions about it, feel free to ask me. I'm the guy (along with friends) who was building these kiosks and deploying them at "hacker" conferences and then gave a presentation on the matter.

milkshakes 14y ago
i have some questions. how do i contact you?
- rawrly 14y ago
  Email sent to you. Narf!
  - milkshakes 14y ago
    hm i never got it :( and i tested the address too since i don't use it much! i'd definitely love to chat though. an alternate just in case is jwb [at] tu [dot] nr