When you’re on your fourth layover on an overseas trip and your phone is about to die, the sight of a USB port looks like a gift from above.

We don’t have many of these in our local airports so here’s a breakdown. Many overseas airports have public charging stations, where you can plug in for a while and get the juice you need to keep your phone or device ticking along.

Seems convenient, right?

According to Forbes, they’re actually super risky.

“Plugging into a public USB port is kind of like finding a toothbrush on the side of the road and deciding to stick it in your mouth. You have no idea where that thing has been,” says Caleb Barlow, Vice President of X-Force Threat Intelligence at IBM Security.  “And remember that that USB port can pass data.”

That was graphic. Please continue.

A growing number of nation-state hackers are now training their sights on travelers, according to new research from IBM Security. The 2019 IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index reveals that the transportation industry has become a priority target for cybercriminals as the second-most attacked industry — up from tenth in 2017.

Since January 2018, 566 million records from the travel and transportation industry have been leaked or compromised in publicly reported breaches.

The crime is simple. A hacker places a chip inside a charging device and then plugs it into the USB port. Someone comes along and plugs their device in using the cord, and their data is then transferred.

You take a similar risk if you use any old USB stick you find lying around. “A lot of companies now are banning the use of USB storage devices because at the end of the day they’re dangerous,” says Barlow. “If you want to get into a company, go buy a couple hundred USB sticks and cast them around in places where you know company will go. Guaranteed, one of them will get plugged into a company laptop.”

Moral of the story? When travelling, don’t stick strange USBs or chargers into your ports.

Words to live by.

[source:forbes]