What’s that white USB thingy?

Our AusNOG swag bag item seemed to cause quite a stir this year with us trying to keep the packaging simple.  Well…they are USB Data Blockers. We’ve all been caught short of charge when out and about, so these small devices sit between your phone and public (including hotel) USB power stations and outlets, acting as a shield between the public USB connection and your device. These wonderful things restrict hackers from accessing your data. How? Hackers can rig charging stations so they can ‘juice jack’ your data through data pins. These pins allow hackers to find a pathway into your device/s. Data blockers are designed to block these pins ensuring that your data doesn’t flow. So, now that you know what they are, and how they work, please use them, even when bludging that bit of charge from a mate’s computer. We’ve got more and will be handing them out at our next few events.