FBI says public phone chargers are a security risk

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The FBI has issued a warning about public chargers found at airports, malls and other locations. And urges everyone not to use them. It’s a good idea to use your own portable charger or power bank when traveling and such, anyways, as you’re not tied to a single location.

According to the FBI, bad actors have found a way to introduce malware and monitoring software onto devices, through USB ports that are found in these locations. And urges everyone to carry their own charger and USB cord and use an electrical outlet instead.

This is commonly referred to as “juice jacking”. Which is where hackers are able to install malicious code into public charging stations. Which allows them to read and steal data from your mobile devices, and even the ability to track them. Unfortunately, juice jacking is more likely to impact Android smartphones, iOS devices are not immune.

How can I avoid this?

So how can you avoid juice jacking? Well, the easiest way is to carry your own charger and USB cable with you when you’re traveling. This is why we recommend buying a battery pack for your device. There’s plenty of options out there for this as well.

The easiest way is using a battery pack. Since you can keep it in your pocket and move around the airport, mall or anywhere else, without having to stay tied to that outlet. And it works even when you’re not in those locations and need to charge your phone. Luckily, we have an entire buyer’s guide for battery packs (or power banks, as some call them). Which you can check out here.

This is pretty scary, but it is pretty easy to avoid. Those USB ports are typically all being used anyways, so it’s hard to be able to use one when you’re at the airport in the first place. But now you should definitely avoid them.



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