The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI have come out with an official PSA (Public Service Announcement) on twitter warning Americans not to use free airport, hotel or shopping center USB ports. Apparently, hackers can “juice-jack” your data or insert malware into your phone or device. 

The PSA goes on to suggest that you use your own charger and USB cord or use an electrical outlet instead. It doesn’t reveal whether this is just for free USB ports in US airports, hotels or shopping centers but if they’re doing this in the US, we expect that other locations around the world could do this too.

Of course, this being the US, commenters did the usual “or that’s what they want us to think”, suggesting that the FBI has invented a way to hack your own charger and electrical outlets too. Given what we know about tech, we have to say that this seems slightly less plausible than hackers quietly replacing free USB ports with their own “juice-jacking” devices, but what do you think? 

Are you going to do what the FBI suggests? Or do you think the same as those US commenters? We think it doesn’t hurt to be careful but do share your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned to TechNave.com