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From: Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.misc,nz.comp
Subject: Malicious USB Interfaces In Airports
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2024 04:02:13 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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Seems there have been cases of crims hijacking USB charging outlets in
airports to connect special devices that can pwn your mobile device
<https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/airport-passengers-warned-of-phone-charging-scams/RGBS35ORBVBUDJIVO466TIFNAQ/>.

When I was in Hong Kong Airport a few years ago, it was very hard for
me to find a mains outlet to charge my laptop. Just about all the
ports built into the public seating areas were USB ones, for
phones/tablets.

It is possible to get USB cables that only connect the power wires for
charging, without enabling data transfer. Alternatively, here
<https://github.com/robertfisk/USG/wiki> is a USB “firewall”-type
device that tries to protect you from malicious devices. If you don’t
want to build your own, there’s a link in the readme to buy NZ-made
ones.