Officials warn about the dangers of using public USB charging stations
Travelers should use only AC charging outlets with their own adapter, use USB no-data cables, or "USB condom" devices.
Travelers are advised to avoid using public USB power charging stations in airports, hotels, and other locations because they may contain dangerous malware, the Los Angeles District Attorney said in a security alert published last week.
USB connections were designed to work as both data and power transfer mediums, with no strict barrier between the two. As smartphones became more popular in the past decade, security researchers figured out they could abuse USB connections that a user might think was only transferring electrical power to hide and deliver secret data payloads.
This type of attack received its own name, as "juice jacking."
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