Don’t just plug your phone or device into any public charging station.
Wisconsin Consumer Protection administrator Michelle Reinen says you can never know if an offered “free” charging station is there for just power, or if it can also look at the data on your phone.
“And these tools will then allow that cyber criminal to obtain the data off the device while it’s charging, unless we as consumers are aware of this possibility and take actions to block that from happening,” Reinen said.
Reinen says you should always check to see if a power cable is also trying to read data from your phone. When in doubt, use a standard outlet with your own charging cable, or bring a battery from home.
