Aug 23 2013

LockedUSB – A USB Charger Firewall

Public charging stations are popular overseas and whilst they may not be as mainstream in Australia they can still be handy if you know where to find one when your gizmos are shrieking about an imminent loss of power. However, particularly in light of information snooping in the USA with the likes of PRISM you can’t rule out the possibility that charging station aren’t secretly accessing the data on your smartphone.

That said, USB charging is fairly commonplace but the problem with USB cables give then above is that they feature both power and data lines and these are all connected by default. This is bad if you want to maintain the security of your phone.

Enter the LockedUSB charger firewall.

Just like we have firewalls on our computers to block access from network connections, Locked USB blocks access via the USB cable by disconnecting the data lines and leaving the USB power lines intact. However, :LockedUSB retains the connection to the USB host (i.e. the device providing the power source) via the data lines in order to obtain the highest amount of power available.

At the moment, this project has a way to go to get over the line on Kickstarter with plenty of early bird spots up for grabs and for US$29 for shipping a unit to Australia with a 3-in-1 cable I thought it was a fairly low risk in terms of backing so I am giving it a punt.

Of course, an alternative would be to use a portable rechargeable battery 🙂

Boydo

My name is Boyd and I’m a Service Management Specialist with a knack for operational data gathering, transformation, analysis and reporting.

In 2012, I obtained my Masters of Science in Information Technology through the University of New South Wales @ The Australia Defence Force Academy (UNSW@ADFA).

I was also part of an online community known as the Panasonic Insider Crew in the capacity of “Insider Guru” for Panasonic Australia where I interacted with other tech enthusiasts and find out more about Panasonic's latest gadgets.

I love technology, gadgets, and the Internet and maintain a keen interest in these areas locally, nationally, and globally. I hope by sharing my views on these topics that people will receive an honest point of view from someone with a genuine interest in these topics.

I have also written and edited articles for Neowin - you can check out my articles over @ https://www.neowin.net/news/poster/boyd_chan

I hope you enjoy reading my blog!

1 comment

  1. Boyd,

    Thank you for your kind words and this article on your blob, please contact me if you or any of your reader have nay questions about LockedUSB.

    Project is going strong, after just a few days we already reached more than 60% of our funding goal. There are still some Early bird Specials for the complete Kit that include the 3-in-1 cable.

    Thanks
    Leo

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