Protecting Personal Data When Traveling.

PositionHACKERS

The spring season is a busy travel period, and it also is the time when travelers should pay special attention to cybercrime. WiFi in hotels, airports, restaurants, and other public spaces usually is unprotected and unsafe, and cybercriminals often lurk in these places, waiting to steal personal information from those who connect to open networks.

Yet another tactic that cybercriminals employ is setting up fake WiFi hotspots and calling them by the name of the real hotel, for example, "Guest WiFi." When a user connects to such a hotspot, all of their personal information easily can get stolen.

However, the legitimate hotel or airport WiFi also is not safe because it is a public network. Hackers can connect to an open network anytime, snoop on users' online activity, and steal their passwords and personal information. They also can install malware on a user's computer or hack into the hotel's database and download credit card information of the guests.

The same open networks are used by most airports, restaurants, or public spaces, and everywhere users connect to the Internet their data may be stolen.

"The steps that users need to take are often common sense--to install the latest security updates, to back up their information, and so on," advises Marty P. Kamden, CMO of NordVPN, Panama City...

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