What Data Is Exchanged When You Charge A Phone From A Computer

We truly hope that you keep in listen the risks of public charging spots. Simply what about users who are always on the road or spend a lot of time away from sockets at abode or in the office? We accept a solution for them: Pure.Charger.

But kickoff, permit us remind y'all what could go wrong using a public USB port in an airport or café. The matter is, y'all're seeing only the USB port, and information technology might be a prissy, prophylactic ordinary USB power adapter plugged into a 220V outlet. Only there might well exist a full-fledged estimator on the other terminate. If it's a reckoner port, your device will feed it some data.

Pure.Charger: How to charge your smartphone in a public location without infecting it

What next? Well, someone on the other finish might go additional privileges on your device, steal data, infect your phone, or change its firmware. Nosotros did some research to shed a lot more low-cal on this upshot.

But does that mean public chargers should exist banned? Unfortunately, y'all're not always in a position to refuse when at that place'southward a demand. That's why we created Pure.Charger.

What'south Pure.Charger?

Pure.Charger is a compact, thumb-bulldoze-size USB device. The gadget has a USB input on one end and a USB output on the other. It has a bear upon screen on summit, and you use that to interact with the device — to activate or deactivate USB data lines.

By default merely the ability lines are active, and no data is transferred. If a USB port requests a connection to transfer information, the device alerts the user, who can opt in to or out of the data exchange with a single tap.

Charging your smartphone's battery over USB can be dangerous https://t.co/PogcU7TFeC #purecharger #Mobile #security pic.twitter.com/UjlSyhgWUJ

— Kaspersky Lab (@kaspersky) May 26, 2016

Also, Pure.Charger has a voltage stabilizer for surge protection: Should in that location be a spike of voltage, Pure.Charger will protect your smartphones' hardware, event at the cost of its ain life.

Users won't necessarily need to remember to plug the device in, either: Pure.Charger is so compact that it'southward perfectly suited to remain permanently connected to the cablevision.

More than than just protection

Y'all might wonder, why does this device need an app? Well, Pure.Charger has more than jokers up its sleeve. This tiny, thumb-bulldoze-way gadget is equipped with a fully functional processor, RAM, and flash storage, as well as a Bluetooth module for wireless connectedness with your smartphone.

After you install the Pure.Charger app on your smartphone, you tin can track the charging process and get some insights like elapsing of charging, location, percent of the bombardment filled up. Amid other things, it helps yous track your smartphone's bombardment health.

There'south likewise a loyalty plan based on those stats. Every fourth dimension you charge your device, you become bonus points, and as the user community grows, those points could be exchanged for goods in the in-app shop — like flying miles, Kaspersky Lab's or partners' products. Y'all accuse your smartphone, y'all receive points, you get gratuitous security solutions in return. Sleek!

Pure.Charger: How to charge your smartphone in a public location without infecting it

At some signal, the Pure.Charger SDK might become publicly bachelor to the developer customs, giving users the opportunity to heighten or change its functions. In essence, our gadget is no dissimilar than wearables: It has a screen, a processor, memory, and connectivity modules as well.

And, of course, if a gadget looks similar a USB thumb drive, it might besides contain an actual thumb drive, and so we offering Pure.Charger versions with built-in 16GB or 32GB wink drives. The capacity defines the price, $40 and $50, respectively; for those who don't demand the flash drive, the basic version is $30.

Cool. Where do I become ane?

We published this blog mail service today for a reason: our crowdfunding entrada, aimed at collecting money to bring Pure.Charger to the mass market, has just started on Kickstarter. Three hundred early birds will get $v off, and so the basic version would cost them just $25. If you lot want to accuse your devices securely and safely, please back up our campaign.

Pure.Charger: How to charge your smartphone in a public location without infecting it

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, nosotros volition upgrade and improve the Pure.Charger. For example, nosotros have plans to make an even more compact version, and to launch an even more affordable ane. We have a lot of plans, and nosotros hope you lot will contribute your ideas every bit well!

We think of the first version of Pure.Charger as sort of an experiment. We wait forward to users' feedback on how we tin can improve information technology, add more functions, or change its looks.