Recently saw a story about hackers being able to breach our computers and phone information from public chargers. Does this really happen and do those Data Blockers that look like little USB drives help to prevent that?
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Anything is possible. Yes, it is completely realistic to suspect that malware can travel through our normal infrastructure. The good news is that it's pretty rare for this to happen. As a general rule, do not join open wifi networks like hospitals, airports, coffee shops. You are at a much greater risk of handing over data through open wifi than you are by using a public outlet. To be safe, instead of using an open USB port at a place like an airport, just take your charger along with you and plug directly to a wall outlet. By using the actual charger that came with your device, you'll eliminate any need for the filtering device like you mentioned earlier. I wouldn't bother using one of those. Long story short: don't join open wifi networks. Open wifi networks=networks that do not require a password to join.