That USB available on public transport or in the lobby of airports, coffee shops or hotels may seem like a handy tool to quickly recharge your cell phone, but they can also pose a great risk. So much so that the FBI explicitly asked people to stop using such entries available to everyone, preferring conventional outlets and the chargers that come with smartphones.
The danger behind the practice was named “juice jacking”. When connected to a USB, the device receives energy, yes, but it can also be the target of viruses and malicious codes that steal data or implement spying mechanisms or theft of personal and banking information. It seems like a risk straight out of a movie, but one that has become real enough to become a warning from the government agency.
There is still no public data to prove the scale of this crime, but this is not the first time that the authorities have issued an alert on the matter. In 2019, for example, LAPD warned of the risks after encountering a malware-infected charging station at a music festival; in 2018, a person was arrested in the US for compromising such terminals in an amusement park, with an eye on credit card data.
“Avoid using free charging stations at airports, hotels or shopping malls. Attackers have created ways to use public USB ports to introduce malware and tracking software to devices. Bring your own charger and USB cable and use an electrical outlet.”
In Brazil, too, there is no information available, with experts in digital security already pointing to the risks for years. The safety recommendation, again, is the use of conventional sockets and a certified charger, instead of public USB ports; beware of buying fonts from unknown retailers or suspicious imports, as they too can be compromised in the same way.
The ideal is to always carry cables and chargers in your backpack, or prefer other means such as power banks or energy saving modes available on the devices themselves. If the need to use public USB ports is unavoidable, look for devices that cancel data signals, the so-called pass-through, which act as intermediaries that guarantee the passage of energy only, without other malicious uses.
