The FBI Issued A Warning On Using Public Phone Charging Stations

The use of public phone charging facilities is fairly common. They would be elected in a landslide if they ran for office. But it seems that they too can be corrupted, just like politicians.

The FBI released a cautionary statement against the use of public charging stations in locations including hotels, airports, and shopping malls.

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They claim that bad actors have discovered a means to "insert malware and monitoring software into devices" using open USB ports. So, you can be unintentionally using the USB port on your phone to connect to malicious software that can let hackers access your device.

But, there is an easy workaround: Bring only your charging cord in its whole and the brick. Charge through a plug works just fine; the problem arises when the cable is inserted straight into a USB port.

You could also bring your own portable cell phone charger like the ones above to safely charge your phone in public.

The FBI is just referring to this as a general advisory; no specific locations or cases were mentioned.