I saw a public charging station in the Denver airport that made me nervous

I was stuck there with a dead phone last week and went to use one of those free USB charging kiosks. I noticed the port looked a bit loose and worn, like a lot of people had used it. It got me thinking about 'juice jacking,' where bad guys can put malware on those ports or steal data. I just bought a cheap 'USB data blocker' adapter for $8 online so my phone only gets power, no data transfer, when I'm out. Has anyone else started carrying one of these little things when they travel?

3 comments

3 Comments

ward.emery1mo ago

Honestly, I'm more worried about my own phone's battery life than a hacker's ambition. My data isn't that interesting anyway.

masontorres10d ago

Remember when everyone used to warn you about ATM skimmers? I had a buddy who got his card info stolen from a gas pump reader that looked totally normal. Makes you wonder what else out there has been messed with, right? I guess a worn out port is a pretty good sign to just walk away. Maybe I should just start carrying one of those old school battery packs instead.

parker8831mo ago

Totally get that, I grabbed a data blocker too after a sketchy port in Vegas. Ward.emery has a point though, my battery anxiety is way bigger than my data fear.