Essential Gear – USB Data Blocker

Have you ever been desperately low on power for your phone or tablet that you used a public USB port? How about on a plane or in a rental car? As cybersecurity professionals, I’m confident that none of you reading this have done this right?

The history of compromising devices via USB ports, or juice jacking, goes back many years, to DefCon 2011 and recently made the news again last year in a New York Times article.

I always have a USB data blocker in my computer bag. In fact, I carry two just in case one is lost. Both the ChargeDefense and PortaPow devices work well to give me peace of mind should I need to use a public USB port such as in an airport, airplane, Uber, conference charging station or a hotel TV. An additional benefit of using one of these in my own vehicle is that I am no longer prompted to sync my contact lists or have the stereo start auto-playing from my phone.

You can purchase these for yourself on Amazon whose links are below. At around $10, these are worth the money.

• ChargeDefense Juice-Jack Defender – https://amzn.to/37cS8Do
• PortaPow Data Blocker – https://amzn.to/30mEPik

On a side note, these won’t help with USB dead drops. Yes, these do exist. You have been warned!