FBI: Don’t use public phone charging stations
The Feds’ Denver office says charging areas at places like hotels and airports have been commandeered by bad actors. Plugging in to the free-to-use stations may lead to your device becoming infected with malware or monitoring software, the FBI says.
Instead the agency is advising users to bring their own cables and charging bricks and use the power outlets instead. In a tweet, the Denver office writes: “Avoid using free charging stations in airports, hotels or shopping centres. Bad actors have figured out ways to use public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software onto devices. Carry your own charger and USB cord and use an electrical outlet instead.”
Abiding by the Feds’ advice would make charging your phone at the airport a little trickier. There are only so many electrical outlets at the airport and those are often in high demand. The alternative of course is to bring your own external battery.
