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    'Don't charge your phone in Chinese electric cars', defence firms tell staff
    United Kingdom

    ‘Don’t charge your phone in Chinese electric cars’, defence firms tell staff

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    28 Comments

    1. BestButtons on

      > British firms working for the UK’s military or intelligence services are advising staff not to connect their mobile phones to Chinese-made electric cars over fears that Beijing could steal sensitive national security data.

      This is of course targeted advice, but the same goes to charging your phone on any public USB charger.

    2. ThrillGuy1 on

      If Chinese technology can always do this, what makes everyone think that American tech isn’t doing the same?

    3. HumanWithComputer on

      Or you could use data blocker cables or adapters that simply only connect the power wires and interrupt the data lines.

    4. AmpleApple9 on

      I have owned a Chinese built car for 3 years and I have 从未发现任何证据表明我的数据 being stolen or compromised.

    5. Ruskythegreat on

      Probably another unjustified fear mongering attempt just like the Huawei fiasco

    6. ComprehensiveHead913 on

      Use a charging cable with no data lines or sever the data lines in an existing cable (as all reasonably paranoid people should have been doing all along).

    7. gggggenegenie on

      I’m just imagining the juicy tidbits the Chinese secret service are accessing when my elderly neighbour plugs his phone into his Jaecoo.

    8. Adi1822 on

      Ev cars are the least of the problems for stolen data. This sounds like click bait and fear mongering

    9. nerdyPagaman on

      It’s going to be more than that.
      You need to plug in your phone for Android auto etc to work.
      It’s not just charging.

    11. arwynj55 on

      I’m surprised our own government don’t wanna do this or don’t do this. They snoop on everything else the people do

    12. EconomySwordfish5 on

      Wouldn’t be too hard to make a “dumb” USB adapter that only allows the phone to charge and nothing else.

    13. No_Job_515 on

      they dont want you to charge them in their cars cause i bet they charge in a instant china is atleast 15 years in the future with tech

    14. cookiesnooper on

      Do not use data cables outside your home. Do not use borrowed cables to charge your phone.

    15. ashyjay on

      There’s no need to plug it in, with you pair your phone to the car for Bluetooth carplay/Android Auto, it’ll have just as much access.

      While I dislike Chinese EVs, for some they are the only cars they can afford and they’ll be offered by lease schemes so unless the contractors and Quangos under the MoD will pay people to not get Chinese cars or Chinese made cars. They are going to be fairly limited in what they can do other than bar them from entering the grounds.

    16. No-Strike-4560 on

      I mean, SURELY it’s not that hard to have an extra step in place that monitors data traffic before allowing a car to go on sale in the UK , SURELY ?

    20. contrarybeary on

      “Don’t keep sensitive data on your phone” – is really what they should be saying.

    21. blockbuster_1234 on

      Is the same people asking us of this, the same who post about everything on Facebook and instagram?

      And the same ones who go to ChatGPT all the time to ask questions or write emails?

    24. Andidalo on

      My Dad lives in Vietnam and refuses to buy a chinese phone. He is fine with USA or Korea spying on him but hates that China might be. I have no idea what difference it makes tbh. 

    25. Thatweasel on

      Why wouldn’t people working for a defense firm already be using charge only cables?

    26. Aptosauras on

      How about, if you work in a sensitive defence organisation, do not connect your work electronics to an unsecure network – eg. Your home, retail, or vehicle network.

      Seems to be common sense from a security perspective.

      If you work in a sensitive defence organisation, do not upload your activities to unsecure websites, such as Strava or Google Fit.

      Both of the above scenarios have been broken by defence personal, most recently the US Secretary of Defence.

    28. mancunian101 on

      I’m soon to be getting a Chinese EV.

      The only thing they’ll CCP will learn is that my kids like to listen to the same 3 songs on repeat