Vacay and Holiday Security Tips – Ep 412 

Vacation is a time to relax and get away from everyday worries, but it’s important to take steps to ensure that your cybersecurity and privacy are not at risk. Today, we will review vacation and travel security tips from the National Cybersecurity Alliance to help you stay safe during your travels.

In this episode:

Vacay and Holiday Security Tips – Ep 412

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Vacay and Holiday Security Tips

StaySafeOnline, which is a part of the National Security Alliance, has Vacation and Travel Security Tips and a toolkit, available for download, that is designed to help you think through and make a plan to manage your digital environment and stay cyber safe while on vacation.

Here is a list of the travel security tips to help you stay away from meddling cybercriminals.

Preparing for your trip:

1. Travel lightly. The more devices you take with you, the more things you need to protect and the more at risk you are to an attack.
2. Check your privacy and security settings. Check location tracking settings on your web services and apps on the devices you take. Turn them off if you don’t need them and don’t share pictures or videos or messages about where you are. Wait until you get home to post pictures.
3. [14:00] Set up the “find my…” feature, if available. This can help you find your phone or tablet but also wipe data or disable the device if it gets into the wrong hands.
4. Password protect your devices. Set a good password on your devices. And encrypt them too. If you can pick it up and carry it around, encrypt it.
5. Update your software. Make sure your devices and apps are up to date on their patches before you set off on vacation. You will be inherently safer when you go places. And make sure you continue to update when needed while you are away.
6. Backup files. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Backup your photos, documents and other important files in case they do not come back home with you.

While you are on the go:

1. [24:37] Manage your location services. We covered this above in your travel prep, but you don’t want to broadcast where you are going on social media… that you will be away for 2 weeks to Bermuda.
2. Use secure wifi. There are two easy ways to make sure your browsing is secure is to use a reputable VPN or use a travel hotspot or the hotspot services on your phone. Don’t use free wifi or free VPN services.
3. Think before you post. Again, we talked about this in your prep. Don’t post where you are on social media until you return from your trip.
4. Protect your physical devices. Don’t leave them lying around, even when you get up for just a few minutes to go to the buffet or to the restroom. It only takes a second for criminals to pick it up and go.
5. [31:06] Stop auto connecting. Disable the auto connect feature for Bluetooth and available wifi networks. Only allow your devices to connect when you tell it to. This helps protect you from cyber criminals trying to access your devices.
6. If you share computers, don’t share information. Avoid using public computers in hotel lobbies or internet cafes. If you have to use a shared computer, don’t log into online accounts or use it for online purchases. You never know what malicious software might have been installed on those computers.

A few additional tips, not included in the StaySafeOnline toolkit:

1. Make sure that your devices can be used wherever you are traveling to. Many times IT providers “geofence” devices down so that they can only be used in the US.
2. If you rent a car and connect your phone to the navigation system, don’t let it download your contacts. If you do let it download your contacts, make sure you delete them from the system before you turn the car back in.
3. Think twice before you use a family member’s or friend’s computer to do something. Just because you know them, it doesn’t mean they know how to secure things.

So, there you go, folks. Download the StaySafeOnline Vacation and Travel Security Toolkit to get some valuable tips and insights on how to stay safe and secure while you are traveling. Because the criminals don’t take vacations… well, maybe they do but they are vacationing with you.

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