So-called juice jacking is the most controversial topic in cybersecurity circles. In most years, when a new alert is issued by a government agency before the holidays, it creates new headlines. Stories are written and cyber eyebrows are raised — there are more stories than attacks. But still those stories come. However, a recent alert raises the possibility that travellers may actually be at risk.
In reality, juice jacking occurs when you plug your phone into a public charging cable or socket at a hotel or airport, and rather than a dumb charger, a computer operates in the background to retrieve data from your device. This is not the same as carefully designed attack cables that contain a malicious payload inside the cable.
The latest official warning (and headlines 1,2) comes from the TSA. "When you're at an airport, do not plug your phone directly into a USB port," it warns you. "Bring your TSA-compliant power brick or battery pack and plug in there." This is so because "hackers can install malware at USB ports (we've been told that's called 'juice/port jacking').”
TSA also urges smartphone users not to use free public WiFi, especially if they intend to make any online purchases. Do not enter any sensitive information while using unsecure WiFi. Cyber experts are almost as divided on the public WiFi hijacking problem as they are on juice-jacking. TL;DR: While it compromises your location, all encrypted data transmitted to or from your device via websites or apps should be secure.
The greater risk is downloading an app from the malicious access point's splash page, filling online forms, or being routed to bogus login sites for Microsoft, Google, or other accounts. The typical advice applies: use passkeys, avoid logging in to linked or popup windows and instead utilise the traditional channels, and do not reveal personal information. You should also be cautious about which WiFi hotspots you connect to - are they legitimate services from the hotel, airport, or mall, or are they cleverly labelled fakes?
This is more of an issue for Android than iOS, but it isn't something most people need be concerned about. However, if you believe you may be the target of an attack or if you travel to high-risk areas of the world, I strongly advise against utilising public charging outlets or public WiFi without some type of data protection.