Caution: Do not charge phone anywhere, data may be stolen!

While traveling, many people charge their phones through USB charger stations at bus or railway stations, airports. Even if the charging issue is resolved, it may leave all your phone data in the hands of cybercriminals. Malware can also get in. Because of this, cybercriminals can regularly collect information on mobile phones with the help of malware.

Cybercriminals have stolen information from mobile phones before using this scam called 'juice jacking'. However, recently, by using this technique, there has been an increase in cases of money theft by collecting online banking passwords from users' mobile phones. In the meantime, various banks in India have warned customers about this.

Charging stations installed in various institutions or public spaces have to charge mobile phones through a common USB data cable. Cybercriminals use special devices at the other end of the data cable to secretly collect data and inject harmful malware into the phone. For this reason, the malware starts sending information to specific addresses only when the internet connection is turned on.

Cybercriminals can collect information through juice jacking mobile phones as well as laptops or tablet computers. And so security experts advise not to use USB charger stations in unfamiliar places to be safe. They have also requested to turn off the mobile phone, laptop or tablet computer and charge it if necessary.