FBI is warning people against using public phone-charging stations
1–10 of 328 posts
Re: FBI is warning people against using public phone-charging stations
#2Just FYI: this is referring to USB charging stations, not EV stations.
This advice has been standard in cybersecurity training for a long time now and frankly I'm surprised that this is the first time the FBI has felt the need to issue an advisory on the subject.
Re: FBI is warning people against using public phone-charging stations
#3Just FYI: this is referring to USB charging stations, not EV stations. This advice has been standard in cybersecurity training for a long time now and frankly I'm surprised that this is the first time the FBI has felt the need to issue an advisory on the subject.
I have been somewhat curious if/when this will occur with EV stations as well. What controls might one gain over a car from the charging port on the assorted makes/models? Even hacking aside I am curious what PII, telemetry and tracking data could be pulled from the charge port.
Re: FBI is warning people against using public phone-charging stations
#4Just FYI: this is referring to USB charging stations, not EV stations. This advice has been standard in cybersecurity training for a long time now and frankly I'm surprised that this is the first time the FBI has felt the need to issue an advisory on the subject.
Seriously need an edited title then. Original title is wildly misleading.
Re: FBI is warning people against using public phone-charging stations
#5Just FYI: this is referring to USB charging stations, not EV stations. This advice has been standard in cybersecurity training for a long time now and frankly I'm surprised that this is the first time the FBI has felt the need to issue an advisory on the subject.
I have been somewhat curious if/when this will occur with EV stations as well. What controls might one gain over a car from the charging port on the assorted makes/models? Even hacking aside I am curious what PII, telemetry and tracking data could be pulled from the charge port.
At least on AC Level 1/2 charging (using just a J1772 port) the signalling is pretty rudimentary if I remember correctly. Something along the lines of the car puts out a square wave on one of the signalling pins and based on the resistance it sees it knows whether it's plugged in and how much power it can charge, so there isn't much room (dare I say any) way to interact much with the car through that port. I don't know how DC charging works but I assume there's a little bit more smarts to it. Tesla on the other hand is a completely different story.
Re: FBI is warning people against using public phone-charging stations
#6Just FYI: this is referring to USB charging stations, not EV stations. This advice has been standard in cybersecurity training for a long time now and frankly I'm surprised that this is the first time the FBI has felt the need to issue an advisory on the subject.
Seriously need an edited title then. Original title is wildly misleading.
I thought it was a wild clickbait and didn't even go to read the article.
I read it as "EVs are dangerous according to the FBI, use V12 engines to avoid hackers"
but yeah, public charging stations *for phones* are terrible.
I used one of them once at a conference, with ADB enabled on my phone. I thought it would just feed me power, as not data collection was specified on the station.
but it enabled a data connection.
So I used a public station once, and I'll never do it again.
Re: FBI is warning people against using public phone-charging stations
#7There are USB "condom" cables available which do not have data wire. https://www.zdnet.com/article/protect-your-data-with-a-usb-c...
I don't have those; I just charge my portable battery first and then charge my devices from the battery.
Re: FBI is warning people against using public phone-charging stations
#8There are USB "condom" cables available which do not have data wire. https://www.zdnet.com/article/protect-your-data-with-a-usb-c... I don't have those; I just charge my portable battery first and then charge my devices from the battery.
But then your phone will have been with every port your battery pack has been with!
An alternative is also a power only USB cable, just because I feel like I'm less likely to lose a whole cable than a "condom".
Re: FBI is warning people against using public phone-charging stations
#9This might be a big advantage for wireless charging. Although it can be slower than a USB charger, there is no risk that it will be doing something other than charging.
Re: FBI is warning people against using public phone-charging stations
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have been somewhat curious if/when this will occur with EV stations as well. What controls might one gain over a car from the charging port on the assorted makes/models? Even hacking aside I am curious what PII, telemetry and tracking data could be pulled from the charge port.
At least on AC Level 1/2 charging (using just a J1772 port) the signalling is pretty rudimentary if I remember correctly. Something along the lines of the car puts out a square wave on one of the signalling pins and based on the resistance it sees it knows whether it's plugged in and how much power it can charge, so there isn't much room (dare I say any) way to interact much with the car through that port. I don't kn…
The really high voltage fast chargers as far as I understand them connect directly to the battery bypassing the cars battery charger to directly charge the battery not sure how much communication there is on those channels though.