5 online privacy and security tips for your holidays

Checking e-mails, looking stuff up online, and keeping track of things on social media while on the road is pretty simple these days, with our smartphones, tablets and laptops in tow.

In fact, with Wi-Fi connected cars, trains and planes, and internet access everywhere, you can leave your business, college or home and arrive somewhere else without missing a beat.

Wherever you’re going – whether you’re traveling for a business conference to Copenhagen, or going away with your friends on holiday to Newquay – you’ll still want to be secure when you go online, use mobile devices and buy stuff with your bank card.

So here are five simple security tips to help you stay safe when travelling.

1. LOCK YOUR LAPTOP / TABLET / PHONE WHEN YOU AREN’T USING THEM

Do you know how many laptops and mobile devices are lost or stolen whilst on holiday?

It could happen to you so make sure you lock your devices to keep all your contacts and content private.  Set your devices to auto-lock after the shortest delay you can live with: try two minutes, for example.

On your device, don’t go for a four-digit PIN because that’s what everyone else is doing.  Going from four to eight digits means that typing in your PIN takes twice as long; but it also takes a whopping 10,000 times longer for a crook to guess it (each extra digit in a PIN means 10x as many choices, and 10x10x10x10 = 10,000).

You can also use Find My iPhone on iDevices or DeviceManager on Androids to find the device’s location.  You might even get it back by sending a message on the lockscreen to whoever has it.

Why not also save all your contacts, pictures, and other important information on your device to a secure external USB stick or hard drive?

This has the benefit that if your device is stolen or damaged from water or you break it whilst away for example, you will still have access to all you memories as they are safely stored offline.  When you get your replacement device you will be able to safely upload your memories from your USB stick or hard drive onto your new phone or tablet or laptop.

2. ALL THAT PUBLIC WI-FI? DON’T COUNT ON IT BEING SAFE

Airports and hotels all offer public Wi-Fi, but not all of them are doing security right.  Security bugs are common in Wi-Fi routers, even some well known brands that are widely used in the hospitality industry.

When you connect to that legitimate-looking hotspot, how can you be sure it really belongs to the hotel, bar, or the conference venue?

Someone could hack the hotel Wi-Fi, or set up a trap by using a fake network name that you might innocently connect to, and then use it to snoop on, and even manipulate, your network traffic.  It’s better to use your mobile data network to connect instead of Wi-Fi.

In many countries, it’s easy enough to buy a prepaid SIM card when you arrive, and use pay-as-you-go data as you need it.  That way, you can avoid untrusted Wi-Fi networks without being stung by roaming charges when you travel abroad.

Try using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) which creates a secure internet connection from wherever you are back into your home, university or office network.  Once you’ve connected to the VPN, everything you do online happens just as though you were back at home.  A criminal who’s on the same Wi-Fi network as you, or who’s in control of the rogue access point you just connected to, can tell you’ve connected to the VPN, but nothing more.

You can get more Wi-Fi security tips by contacting DiSc (infor.disc@gmail.com).

3. TURN OFF AS MANY GEO-TAGGING AND GEOLOCATION FEATURES AS YOU CAN

Apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram use geo-tagging, which is where the app asks your phone for your location, and includes it in your post.  Even if you have GPS turned off, your phone can still work out where you are by keeping track of all the Wi-Fi access points it can see around you.

Before you post, think about whether everyone needs to know that you’re away from home.  Criminals from your home town may see you're away and take the opportunity to burgle your vacant home.  This has happened to a lot of people.

If you can, try turning location services off altogether on your phone, so that apps can’t access your current location at all.  The only way to really avoid be tracked by your phone is to turn your phone off altogether, or at least turn on Airplane Mode, which stops the device from transmitting, including to mobile networks, making it travel safe for a plane.  So if you’re trying to hide out from anyone (boss? spouse?), don’t use your phone.

4. BE CAREFUL WHEN USING PUBLIC COMPUTERS AND ATMS

Public computers, like those at internet cafés or business centres at hotels, could be infected with malware, which might spy on you when you go online.  One such type of malware, called a keylogger, can record everything you type on a keyboard – very useful for stealing things like passwords to your e-mail or the login for your online bank account.

Spies and criminals can and do attach spy hardware to public computers – this has happened at hotels in Spain and public libraries in England – to steal private information.

Criminals can also attach a card reader to an ATM or a sales register to skim the account numbers off your credit card.

Sometimes it pays to be more conservative than usual, especially when you’re traveling in unfamiliar territory.  Depending on how confident you are in the security of where you are, you might want to use cash or travellers checks.

You don’t have to be low-tech – you could also consider using a secure mobile payment app like PayPal, Google Wallet or Apple Pay, because they don’t use your actual account number for making a transaction.

5. WRAP YOURSELF IN LAYERS OF PROTECTION

If you’re going somewhere cold, you add extra layers of clothing.  Why not do the same for your security and privacy?

Instead of ignoring prompts to update your laptops and devices (plenty of people do), turn on auto-updating for your computers, software and devices.  If you don’t keep your devices up to date, you’ll be unprotected even against attacks that exploit already-known security holes, so you’re turning yourself into low-hanging fruit for criminals.

For added protection, use an anti-virus on your laptops and Macs, and think about using anti-virus on your smartphones and tablets, too.

Fortify your accounts wherever possible, by using two-factor authentication – which adds another layer to the login process, such as entering a one-time code sent to your phone.  A lot of websites and apps like Gmail and Facebook offer two-factor authentication, so even if someone steals your password they need to go through another step before accessing your account.

It’s a good idea to have multiple layers of protection, so if one layer fails, you’ve got a backup.