FBI warns of juice-jacking; here’s how to protect your data when traveling

There’s plenty to worry about when traveling. Now, it seems, you might want to add public charging stations to the list.

While experienced travelers may know to keep their heads on a swivel to avoid being pickpocketed, or to watch out for taxis with “broken” meters, it turns out the danger of data theft is ever present in the form of those oh-so-convenient phone charging stations in hotels and airports.

The FBI is warning travelers to avoid using public phone charging stations, which hackers have been able to commandeer in order to install monitoring software and other malware on devices. It’s a practice called juice-jacking.

How to avoid being juice-jacked

• Travel with your own portable charger.
• Travel with a full charging set - cord and electrical outlet adapter. If you must charge your device in a public place, an ordinary electrical outlet is preferable to a USB slot.
• Use a charging-only cable instead of a USB cable. Charge-only cables allow your smartphone to charge but cannot share any data.
• Avoid plugs that already have a chord attached. It might seem like a fellow traveler forgot their cable, but it might have been left on purpose by a hacker.

On the subject of data security while traveling, public Wi-Fi is another weak point. These networks are usually unencrypted and unsecured, leaving phone data — including browsing history, passwords, financial documents and transactions — vulnerable.

If you absolutely need to use public Wi-Fi, consider downloading a mobile virtual private network (VPN). VPNs offer privacy protection even when you’re on an otherwise public network. And its a smart solution whether you’re traveling the world or just using the Wi-Fi at your favorite coffee shop.