If airport USB chargers aren't considered secure, that seems like it's own extremely serious problem that we should be taking drastic actions to remedy immediately. FFS.
Because you can't chemically detect a circuit based on its use case, but those two items have a low false-negative detection rate?
I've learned never to say never, but ...
If the usb charger outlets being sent to a very federally regulated airports and installed without detection for many years are compromised at the factory, how am I to trust the USB charger I buy at a gas station or Amazon?
As for the professional shampoo confiscators I wouldn't factor them at all.
edit: I like the assertion below, too, that the ports may just be factory compromised and unsafe from the start.
Because quiet infiltration is of more value than a violent attack.
For some of these outlets, you need a screwdriver, a compromised replacement outlet, and 30 seconds. Maybe a friend and some luggage to block cameras.
I have no knowledge into the internal workings of airport security, but I doubt this is a threat they're worried about or looking for. No amount of cameras help with that.
The infeasiblity mostly seems targeting and monitization. You have no clue who or what will plug in, so it's barely useful for directed attacks. And actually getting value (intel or money) when all you know to expect is "a smartphone will connect" is quite hard.
“Security” is not one big umbrella.
The specific people and organizations tasked with protecting air travel are not tasked with protecting the cell phones of the passengers traveling.
Or maybe I toss an orange maintenance vest in my carryon, put it on past security, and rip the fucker apart on the spot. It's hilarious that just below this is a long thread about the impossibility of stopping somebody from installing a tainted outlet. What's to stop me from uninstalling it?
Risk vs reward? Even if you find the right charge station and remove the juicer, your only reward for removing it is knowing that you're stopping someone else from getting juiced. But if you get caught, you face getting charged for vandalism or theft - and might even get blamed for installing it since you'll have it in your possession when you're caught. The value of a charging kiosk probably puts you in the realm of felony charges and maybe there's some upgrade of the charges for doing it within an airport secure zone.