PSA: Public Phone Charging Ports Are Malware Magnets
Have you juiced up your laptop or phone at the free public charging stations available at places like airports and malls? You may want to reconsider as bad actors are increasingly hijacking them to infect devices with malware that can steal sensitive data.
As the FBI’s Denver field office advises: “Avoid using free charging stations in airports, hotels, or shopping centers. Bad actors have figured out ways to use public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software onto devices.” The tweet calls for people to “carry your own charger and USB cord and use an electrical outlet instead.”
As CNBC points out(Opens in a new window), the FBI has similar guidance(Opens in a new window) on its website about these so-called "juice jackings." There, the federal agency asks people to be careful when connecting to public Wi-Fi networks and refrain from making purchases to avoid man-in-the-middle attacks.
A phone that has been juice jacked may suddenly overheat, suffer from a battery that drains quickly, use more data than normal, and install unauthorized apps as well as change its settings. As 9to5Mac notes(Opens in a new window), Android smartphones are more vulnerable to this type of attack than iPhones and iPads, partly because iPhones and iPads carry a “Trust this device?” security prompt when an external actor is plugged in and is attempting to access them.
USB attacks have caused a lot of notable damage in the past. According to a 2021 report(Opens in a new window) by cybersecurity analysts from Honeywell Forge, 79% of USB cyberattacks are capable of disrupting operational technology such as the everyday functions of an industrial plant, and 51% of them can grant an attacker remote access to an infected device.
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