Cybersecurity while Traveling

Imagine you want to travel with your laptop and go around in different locations and you may connect to public Wi-Fi on the airport, hotel and so on. We are going to talk about best practices you have to follow when you want to work from public Wi-Fi. In general, it is recommended to not use public Wi-Fi for work and you may use it just to browse the internet and visit website but if you have to do it, then consider the following best practices:

Update Everything: Before departure and while you are using your home or company network, make sure update Windows, your applications, Anti-Malware and everything to make sure your system is protected against newly discovered threats. This would be helpful when you are using places with limitation on bandwidth and when you already updated everything you won’t lose bandwidth for update.

Use VPN: Check with your IT department to give you secure VPN access and configure it. Normally, they will add certificate and make sure use strong password and powerful protocol and only use VPN to work and login to websites. There are commercial and free VPNs which you may purchase and configure but, in all cases, it is better to check with your IT Department.

Be aware of physical security: When you sit to work with your device, look around yourself and make sure no one watching you or take photo or video of you, so they might use it to find the password you are typing later. Be aware of CCTV and make sure sit in a place when your hands are not visible in front of the CCTV.

Do not use sensitive resources: Try your best not to work on confidential or protected data while you are in public area, unless you have protection measurements which you confirmed with the IT Security teams.

Use BitLocker: Make sure BitLocker is enable in your device and your hard disk is encrypted and always try to shutdown your device when you are away (instead of log off or sleep).

Do NOT use public PC: Remember your own laptop or phone is a lot safer than public PCs. They have been configured by you or your IT teams and you could protect yourselves. However, we never know the protection on the public PCs.