Many smartphones and other devices now have reversible USB Type-C ports, but these ports have a few drawbacks. In the "charging cable saga," it was discovered that a large number of unofficially manufactured USB Type-C charging adapters and cables were available. Because of the "charging cable saga," many third-party cables and adapters did not work properly. As a result, they were able to damage and even break brand-new, high-priced gadgets. The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has come up with a new USB Type-C Authentication specification to deal with this and other problems.

Introduction of New USB Type C Authentication Specs

At the Intel Developer Forum, which took place in Shenzhen, China, the USB Type-C Authentication specification was introduced for the very first time. It incorporates changes that should result in an improved level of protection for the devices against chargers that do not comply with standards and against devices that are infected with malware.

A 128-bit encrypted handshake will now be performed whenever an adapter, power cable, or other accessory is plugged into a host device that assists with the new requirements. This will determine whether or not the accessory satisfies the same specification as the host device.

What is New in the Latest USB Type C?

As a measure to protect themselves from potential damage, devices may be configured to refuse to charge from chargers that have not validated their identity by performing the handshake. Another benefit of implementing this authentication system is that it will assist in protecting devices from malicious attacks that are carried out via USB. The encrypted transfer can also be used to exchange security certificates. Consequently, a lock could be implemented to restrict data exchanges to only permitted devices that have been successfully certified.

However, this will cause problems with the device's backward compatibility because the older cables and chargers didn't have this security system in mind when they were built. They will need to be replaced as a result. Nevertheless, the firmware of host devices like smartphones could be updated to make them compatible with the USB Type-C Authentication specification in order to make them work with it.

The fact that this will, of course, be wholly dependent on the manufacturer is the primary reason why there is no guarantee that universal support will be provided. In addition, it is probably a good idea to include a user-configurable toggle in the software so that customers can opt-in or opt-out depending on whether or not they want to keep their old chargers. This would allow customers more flexibility in their purchasing decisions.

In Conclusion

Those who are concerned about the quality of cables and accessories that are sold by third parties will most certainly find the recently released USB Type-C Authentication specification as a welcome news. The only thing that can be done at this point is to wait and see whether or not companies that make hardware will quickly adopt to this new standard. At present, UGREEN has been innovating their products to meet the standards of the latest devices. You can learn more about it if you click here. Check out their cool selection of USB-C cables.