Have you ever charged your smartphone at a public charging station in an airport or shopping mall? This makes your device vulnerable to “juice jacking”.

If you travel a lot, you may have already charged your smartphone at the airport. After all, you don’t want to let the battery run out if you still have a few hours to bridge before departure. Airports therefore offer many publicly accessible USB ports where you can connect your smartphone with or without a cable. However, it is better to avoid these public charging points.

The American FBI warns via Twitter Juice Jack, a new attack technique that emerges. Hackers have managed to weaponize public USB drives. They infect the USB port with malware that the victim unknowingly installs on their smartphone upon plugging in the device. This gives the attackers free access to the data on the smartphone. It also doesn’t matter whether you use your own cable or a public cable.

Use a power bank

The FBI therefore advises avoiding public USB drives at all costs. Not only at the airport, but also in shopping malls, cafes, etc. If you still need to charge your device on the go, always take a cable with the adapter to plug it into a conventional socket. Or bring a power bank for places where power outlets are not available.