The FBI advised travelers to avoid public USB charging; the FCC’s consumer guidance recommended charge-only hardware. For organizations, that advice is a policy question: how do you make safe charging the default for people who are always on the move? (FBI warning, Apr 2023 – CNBC coverage ↗) (FCC guidance, archived ↗)
Traveling executives and field staff charge wherever power exists. A compromised port is a path to credentials, files, and connected systems – the kind of exposure that turns one phone into an organizational incident.
Data-protection regimes hold organizations responsible for reasonable safeguards. A written mobile-charging policy backed by physical controls is easier to defend than one that relies on every employee tapping the right prompt.
The average cost of a data breach in the U.S. is $10.22 million per affected organization per IBM (IBM Cost of a Data Breach 2025).
Industry precedent: in May 2026, Anker Innovations signed a patent-license and strategic-collaboration agreement with wireless-charging IP holder Powermat Technologies (joint release). U.S. Department of Defense policy for secure spaces requires approved peripheral disconnection devices that operate “through physical (not software) means” (June 2021 memo) – the memo covers collaboration peripherals in DoD secure spaces, not charging cables; the principle Lion’s design uses is the one DoD requires there.
Equip traveling teams with switchable cables and a one-line policy: “public charging happens in protected mode.” The status light makes compliance visible - a training point that takes ten seconds to teach.
Hotels, lounges, and conference venues can offer guests charging that blocks data-line attacks by construction - a genuine amenity in a world where the FBI has told travelers to distrust public USB ports.
Cable and accessory manufacturers can license the patented switch/status technology - built on three granted U.S. utility patents (see the portfolio). The full licensing story lives on our partners page.
Demand for secure-by-design accessories is easy to check: the FBI publicly warned travelers off free USB charging stations in 2023, and peer-reviewed research presented at USENIX Security 2025 showed that the USB trust prompts on devices from eight vendors – including the top six by market share – could be bypassed. Vendors are patching; a physical disconnect never needed one. Regulatory attention to data protection keeps growing – security features are how commodity cables stop being commodities.
