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Don’t Use Public USB Charging Ports

September 6, 2018

Believe it or not, USB public charging ports can suck the data off your device while it is charging. It's a process called Juice-Jacking. Typically, users plug their smartphones into a charging port using a USB connection, which makes them susceptible to data theft. There certainly is a ton of valuable data on your smartphone, which makes it a huge target. Not to worry. There are three simple ways to stop the theft of data from your USB device.

You can purchase a charge only device. You plug the device into a USB port and then plug the USB cable into the device. Think of it as a prophylactic for USB, which only allows charging and not data transfer. Second, use a portable power brick. It's fine to charge a power brick in a public USB charging port since there is only a battery and no data to extract. Plug the power brick into your device. Third, and my personal favorite, is to use your own charger plugged into an electrical outlet. Forget plugging directly into a USB charging port.

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