The airport, the bar, the library — all places where your hard-working smartphone might need a little pick-me-up, and all places where free, public phone charging stations have been cropping up over the last few years. But according to a warning from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, you might be better off letting your constant companion run down to zero.
A tweet from the FBI’s Denver field office (via CNBC) warns that “bad actors” have been infiltrating public recharging stations in order to load up spyware and malware on smartphones through the USB port. For hackers, getting instant physical, wired access to a device is basically the Holy Grail of information security…and the defeat thereof. It’s a technique informally known as “juice jacking,” something that the FBI’s central website and various field offices have been warning about for a couple of years.
Smartphones running the latest security updates and default levels of access (for example, disabling USB debugging on Android) probably don’t have much to worry about, even if a public charging access point is compromised. But there’s always the chance of an undisclosed zero-day vulnerability, or an error in the latest update. The danger is especially potent for users whose phones are outside of the update window for Apple, Google, or other manufacturers.
A safer option is to charge up a USB battery or power bank at home and bring it with you.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.