The Common Hotel TV Hack You Should Probably Use With Caution

After a long day of sightseeing, everyone looks forward to settling into their hotel room, taking a break, and charging up their devices for the next day of the trip. Unfortunately, if you forgot the block for your phone charger, you might find yourself struggling to figure out how to plug in your phone. A popular hack suggests using the USB port on the TV in your hotel room to charge up overnight — but according to Vinicius Perallis, CEO of Hacker Rangers, a company specialized in creating corporate cybersecurity culture through gamification, that might not be the best idea.

Avid travelers know that there are gross spots in hotel rooms that you shouldn't touch, but keeping your device away from security hazards might not be as intuitive as keeping your hands clean. Perallis told Islands in an exclusive interview: "Think of your smartphone or any mobile device as if it were your credit card: You wouldn't just plug it into any random port, right? The same goes for your electronic devices."

There are a lot of steps you can take to feel as secure as possible during your hotel stay, but unfortunately, keeping your data safe might be a little trickier. While regular electric outlets are safe for charging, convenient USB ports in public places that travelers may encounter may not be. The FBI has actually warned against charging your phone at the airport, and while a hotel room may feel less public than the waiting area at JFK, the same security issues can theoretically impact the TV in your hotel room's USB port if a nefarious person has tampered with it.

"Using USB ports in hotels or other public places to charge your phone can be risky because of something called 'juice jacking.' This occurs when someone sneakily manages to steal your data or install malware while you're charging," Vinicius Perallis told Islands. Frustratingly, there is a risk of having your data stolen through any USB port in your hotel room, not just the ones in your TV. That means that if you want to protect your data, you may not want to plug your phone into the convenient USB ports on your nightstand, either.

Before you find yourself in a hotel room with your phone battery slowly draining down to 0% with no charging option other than plugging your phone into the hotel television, there are a few things you can pack to be prepared. Other than just using a charger that plugs into the wall outlet, Vinicius Perallis advised that travelers pack portable power banks so that they can charge up anywhere they go without worrying about how secure the USB ports at their destinations are.

If you may need to use a USB port to charge in your hotel room, though, Perallis told us to always turn your phone off while you charge, and check your settings to make sure data transfer via USB is disabled. While these easy steps may help, they're not a 100% guarantee that your data will be safe. If you know you're going to want to use a public USB port, there are some other options. "Consider using a "power-only" USB cable that blocks data transfer, allowing you to charge safely. These cables can help keep your information secure...Another option is a 'USB condom,' a small adapter that allows power to flow for charging but prevents data exchange."