According to U.S. Army [3] forces in South Korea, their top cybersecurity headache comes from troops and military employees charging their phones by hooking up USB cables to their computers. During a recent week-long period, the Korea Theater Network Operations Center logged more than 125 users recharging their smartphones through their computers [4]. Because smartphones are recognized as external devices by computers, they can transmit malware [5] or be used to snoop on sensitive networks [6].

“The main problem is that people are using their government computers to charge their phones with USB cables,” said Lt. Col. Mary M. Rezendes; Army information assurance policies forbid any USB devices from being used on their network. Everything from key drives to iPad connectors are technically forbidden due to the risk of [7].

[Image: Flickr user DavidRGilson [8]]