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Comment by enkid | Hacker News Reader

You're assuming the charging station isn't compromised to start with. A charging station with one of these tools would look basically the same as a normal charging station. One with a bomb or chemical weapon would look different.

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It's a little confusing about airports specifically. Usually official airport usb stations are built into the furniture. They would have to take the thing apart to insert a device? I don't see an example in this article of an inconspicuous device for these types of ports

what he's saying is the usb port thing is possibly compromised at the factory it was made in.

If so, how is carrying your own charger going to help?

AC power lines don't have data lines, and even if they did the juice goes through a process to become DC 5V. It would be pretty tough to exploit a USB stack through a transformer and rectifier.

I've learned never to say never, but ...

I don't think the concern was the power...

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?

Ah indeed, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

I think they meant, how you would know that your own charger is save, when they are malicious from the factory. The answer to that question is to buy from a reputable seller/manufacturer or/and use a cable without data lines (for example Apple MagSafe).

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