In this episode, we explore essential cybersecurity practices for travelers. In our efforts to help you travel more and better, one of the topics we wanted to raise awareness on is how to keep yourself safe and secure when traveling. We'll cover topics ranging from smart usage of data when traveling to situational awareness of your surroundings. Join us as we give practical tips that everyone can apply when traveling.
I'm Scott.
And I'm Melissa. And I'm Melissa.
And we're the Sunshine Travelers. Our passion is travel and sharing our experiences with those who enjoyed as much as we do, or those who want to learn more about travel, or even those who just want to live vicariously through our travel stories. No matter where you fall along that journey, get ready to hear about our firsthand experiences as we visit some of the most interesting and amazing places on earth.
Today, we want to talk about how to stay safe and secure while traveling. And for me, a lot of the things we're going to talk about are second nature, but it may be something you've never given any thought to. And these are things that I tell people to do every day in my job in cybersecurity. But recently, Melissa listened to me say that I almost always use the data on my phone versus connecting to the hotel Wi-Fi. Or if I do connect to Wi-Fi, then I'm using a VPN. And Melissa, you turned to me and you asked me, you said, why have you never told me that?
Yeah, because I think as we were like looking at the data plans, we did an episode where we talked to the GigSky people about it. And I think in the past, people had said, you know, use this amount of data. And then when you get to the hotel, you know, hop on the Wi-Fi and that's how you can save your data. And so I made that comment in passing when we did that interview with Sam King. And he's like, oh, hold up. And here's what you need to know, because he, you know, has some security type background and stuff, too. And so that was news to me. And so I think this that is really what kind of spurred this on, is for you to share the things that you're like, oh, well, I do this all the time, for people to know that these practical ways and that they're actually very simple ways for them to protect themselves. And it's not just when traveling. It's not just in your hotel room. You might be going to the coffee shop around the corner and you need to do some of these very same things.
Yeah. on the corner and you need to do some of these very same things. Yeah. When companies are securing the communications of their employees, they give their employees a VPN to connect to, to gain access to their network and everything going across that is secure. And so companies always tell their employees things like when you're in a cafe, you know, make sure you use a VPN, like when you're in a cafe, you know, make sure you use a VPN, you know, if you're connected to that public Wi-Fi. And so, like I said, it's just something that I do and tell people and I just never thought to say anything to you. And I'm almost certain that you thought the only reason that I was using VPN was so that I could watch my Braves games when they're blacked out. So that I could, you know, VPN to another market and trick the MLB app. No, or years ago after we went to Spain and our son Will got hooked on the Fresh Prince
or years ago after we went to Spain and our son Will got hooked on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which wasn't, I don't think, available streaming here in the U.S. And so he's like, I've got to finish this. And you're like, oh, we can just get you a VPN. And this has been years ago. But again, it was for watching, you know, things. But you know, a lot of times you do need to be able to, you know, check into your bank accounts. And you know, like, if something comes up, or you need to be able to communicate with them, and all that data, all your passwords and all that are vulnerable. And in this day and age, that's just not a good idea. Okay, so we're going to get into the questions. So I'm basically, this is going to be like basically me interviewing Scott as if like he's a guest because he is the expert. And here, obviously, I haven't been doing these things. So this will be eye opening for me as well. So Scott, what are some of the most common cybersecurity threats that travelers face? I think public Wi-Fi is probably
Wi-Fi is probably the biggest threat that travelers face, hands down. So when you're in hotels, airports, coffee shops and other public spaces, you often have these Wi-Fi hotspots set up in your phone to automatically connect to, say, Starbucks, for example, right? And you go into Starbucks and your phone automatically connects to the Starbucks Wi-Fi. So what happens is attackers will use devices that mimic these well-known hotspots, you know, Starbucks, Delta Wi-Fi, you know, Marriott Bonvoy or whatever. Delta Wi-Fi, you know, Marriott Bonvoy or whatever. And they set up these devices to where your phone will try to connect to them. And it sees this Wi-Fi device or Wi-Fi hotspot that it knows, right? Starbucks, Delta Wi-Fi. And so your phone automatically wants to then connect to it. automatically wants to then connect to it. And so these devices trick your phone into believing that this is the real Starbucks Wi-Fi. And then what happens is everything that you send from your phone, that attacker can see all of that traffic and they just capture it. And then what they will do is pass it on to the real Starbucks so that you believe now that your phone has connected to Starbucks, but you're actually attacking or you're actually connected to the attacker's device. And they're just relaying your traffic to the real site. And so they're stealing everything in between there. So think about if you're using passwords or you're connecting to your bank or you're making a purchase with your credit card. All of that data is going through the bad guys network now and they can see all that data.
network now and they can see all that data. So you need to go into your computer settings and your phone settings and toggle the thing that says do not automatically connect. Is that what you're saying? That's
That's right. You don't want your phone to automatically connect, you know, those well-known hotspots, the Starbucks, the Delta, all of those things, right? They'll just set it up and your phone will connect. It thinks that it's okay. And everything that you're doing and your phone is sending, the attacker now has.
Okay. So that step one is go into your settings right now and turn that off on the Wi-Fi. Do not automatically connect. Okay. So that's good to know. Okay. The
other thing that they'll do is that they will join a public Wi-Fi. So they'll get on the real Bonvoy or the real Delta or Starbucks Wi-Fi, and they'll search for vulnerable systems that are connected to that network.
So when you're at the hotel or the airport or coffee shop, if you have a misconfiguration on your computer or you haven't applied all the latest security patches or you're not running any kind of security protection, like I hate to say antivirus, what they will do is they will then connect to you remotely over that Wi-Fi network and then try to launch an attack, insert malware, do whatever to your machine while it's connected to that wireless network.
Okay. And so at the end of this, you're going to have some recommendations for some of these different things that we need to get to protect ourselves and our devices.
Yeah. But I mean, I think the key to realize there is, you know, you're connecting to a public network. You're not alone on there. And so when I say I don't like to join these public Wi-Fi's unless absolutely necessary, this is
this is why. Okay. So having your own data plan or your own some kind of hotspot or something like that is the best thing to do. That's right.
right. So if I'm on my cellular data, that attacker can't come through the cellular network to get to me in the same way that they could on the public Wi-Fi. Okay. So that's the whole reason in saying, well, I don't typically join the public Wi-Fi and I'll just use the data on my phone is because then I don't have that risk. But if I do connect to public Wi-Fi, I'm going to be using a VPN.
Okay. So that's the most important thing is having that VPN. And so we'll talk a little bit about that in a little bit. What can travelers do then to protect themselves from these vulnerabilities? Yeah.
So the first thing is what Melissa said is turn off that auto connect on your Wi-Fi settings. The second thing is if you're in one of those situations and for some reason you don't have data, make sure you have that VPN installed. And I'm going to share more about the VPN in just a little bit. I've got one that I recommend and that I use. And it's, it's one that's been around for a really long time. It's, it's very secure. It's very well trusted. So, you know, we'll recommend that. And what happens is when you use the VPN. Well, what
what is a VPN? It's a virtual private
a virtual private network. Okay. So what happens when you use this VPN, all of the traffic going across that connection, it just looks like garbly gook to the bad guys because you're making a secure connection to a server in that VPN network, right? And no one can get in the middle of that connection.
If they it'll cause you do, your VPN your, to say, know, problems, you know, disconnect, don't do whatever, right? And so they, all they'll see is garbly gook. And that's why you want to use this VPN or virtual private network.
Okay. So basically they are able to see wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.
That's right. Charlie Brown. That's pretty good. Charlie Brown, by the way. Set the VPN to always connect. That's another setting inside the VPN is to always connect any time that you're making a connection. It's not going to hurt you. Even over your cellular connection, if you go through a VPN, it's not going to hurt anything. So that way you don't have to worry about remembering to turn it on. It'll just always be on demand. Anytime that you're using data, that VPN will come on.
Okay, that sounds good. Then you also want to turn off file sharing in your security
you also want to turn off file sharing in your security settings. And I'd say like on your phone or your computer, you know, just go to the search and type file sharing. And so toggle that off. And what that does is it keeps remote computer from being able to connect and see documents and things like that that are stored on your phone and computer. And then I would say also do your homework on the different eSIM providers that are out there. And especially for people who are traveling internationally, some advertise that they're made in the USA, but they're actually reselling an eSIM from like, you know, China Telecom or something like that. And in this case, when you're traveling, you know, in a foreign country, whatever, we recommend GigSky. You know, we've been working with GigSky and we're using it on our trip right now here in Africa. And they make their own eSIM and it works on their network. And so what you want to make sure is that you don't install a piece of software that then puts you on a network that's not secure. You've put yourself more at risk there than maybe connecting to that public Wi-Fi.
Yeah, and that's why it was so important for us to talk to Sam King a few episodes back about GigSky and how they are different and what they do differently. Whether you're exploring new cities, relaxing on a beach, or taking a cruise, you can avoid expensive data charges or unreliable Wi-Fi with a GigSky eSIM. Easily get affordable high-speed data in over 190 countries. No physical SIM card required. affordable high-speed data in over 190 countries. No physical SIM card required. They even have cruise and land packages, so you're connected both on and off the ship without having to pay for two different plans. Download the GigSky app, activate your eSIM, and you're ready to explore. Okay, Scott. So besides that, what are some things that listeners should do before they travel to protect themselves? And I know that we have talked about and done recently, we've done some different checklists. I'm a checklist person. I like checklist. I like to be able to see things visually too. So I really feel like this almost needs a checklist, do you think? And we probably need to maybe walk through, you can help me like create some walkthrough videos that show you people maybe some of those settings. I think that would be that would be very helpful for me. So I think we could work on some of those and then just link those add those linked in the show notes for people.
Let me ask you this question. How often do you postpone the installation of those security updates when it notifies you it needs them?
I think mine does it pretty much automatically.
Well, that's good. But a lot of people will postpone it, right? And they'll say, oh, remind me later or whatever. And that's something that I would say is number one, is make sure you keep the software on your phone and laptop updated. of you laptops these, and know, the software that's running on you they're them, constantly, know, once they find a security vulnerability or someone points a vulnerability out to them, they're constantly fixing those. And then they put these security updates out there for you to install so that you don't, you know, get compromised. And so don't postpone the security updates when they come. And I think that's a number one. Okay. So I used to do that because my old laptop didn't have enough
a lot of
So I used to do that because my old laptop didn't have enough memory. And so I didn't have enough memory to do security updates. So I fixed that problem. Yeah. But that's a good, that's a good point. Well, that's a good sign that you need to update your
that's a good sign that you need to update your hardware. If you don't have enough memory storage, whatever to install the security updates, that's a vulnerable system as well. And just from the fact of it could just die on you at any minute when it's running that low on resources, it doesn't take a security incident. It is a security incident. And then the things that you need aren't going to be available.
Okay. That sounds good. So yeah. So update that immediately. So if it's saying, I want to do this update at midnight, do it. Or if you have time to do it before then, just go ahead and do that. Okay. All right. What else? The second thing I would
The second thing I would say is use security software. And, you know, I'm not pushing any certain software. If you're a Microsoft laptop, then Microsoft Defender is a really good security software that you can run on your laptop. install, just make sure that you're installing a current version of the software because that's going to be the most up-to-date protection for your computer. And it's going to use the most current techniques to try to protect the computer. Don't go to a, you know, a CD somewhere. I don't even have a CD-ROM drive. I don't know who has a CD-ROM drive anymore. But, you know, if you're going back to a CD and you're pulling off a version of McAfee antivirus from the 1990s, stop. Right. That's not going to do you a bit of good. Use a current up-to-date version of security software on your device.
So this is definitely not something to where you want to like pinch pennies and say, oh, I can put this off. It's really
It's really not that expensive. Yeah. I mean, I think like Norton, for example, Norton gives you a package that includes the security software on your laptop. It includes LifeLock, the monitoring and all that stuff. And I would say it's probably like $150 a year. And then that way you have the, you know, peace of mind as well that you can monitor what's happening with your identity. You know, with the LifeLock, you have protection on your machine. And quite often those packages come with like 10 devices. So you could put it on your laptop, your wife's laptop, your kid's laptops, on your phone, right? Every device that they support, usually you have like six to 10 devices that they'll let you install it on. Then I would say use multi-factor authentication on all accounts. authentication on all accounts. So whether that's banking or email or social media, right? Make sure all of those have the checkbox for use multi-factor authentication. And that just means something like, you know, you enter your user ID and password, and then it sends you a text message with a code that you have to put in. And let me just say on that one, if you get a code and you didn't authenticate or whatever, don't give that code to anyone, right? Oh, I sent you a code. You know, tell me what it is. No, don't do that, right? Because most people aren't going to ask you that. Now, in some cases, and I don't want to get off into the weeds, but like if you're on a support call somewhere, you've you have you have called a help desk or something like that or service desk. And they tell you, I am going to send you a code. OK, give that to them. But if somebody calls you and then
somebody calls you and then they say, oh, get this code and then give it to me, that is an absolute 100 percent. No. OK.
Your bank, Microsoft, nobody's going to call you and tell you that they have detected someone inside your
tell you that
that they have detected someone inside your computer. I know someone that this happened to. They got a phone call. They said, we've detected some bad guys inside your firewall and we want to help you fix it. And, you know, for $150, we can help you get them out. Right. Oh, my God. Trust me. This leads to nothing but disaster. You've lost your $150 and you've lost your computer now.
Okay. I think that's a great tip. And I know that is a little bit of a, here's an aside, but I think that's important for people to know. But the two-factor authentication, and sometimes it is the authenticator app that's becoming a real common one, which I think that probably makes which I think that probably makes it. it extra more It's actually better.
it extra more It's actually better.
It's actually better. secure. Yeah. Extra more secure. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
If you're, if you have you a, know, an app where, you know, it's either prompting you for that authentication or you go get the six digit code or whatever out of that app and put it in, that's better than the text message. But there's no problem with the text message. If your bank or whatever uses it, that's fine. One last thing on that is don't reuse passwords. So don't take the same password and use it everywhere. Because what happens is these companies get compromised, they get hacked, and your password gets exposed. Well, if you've used that same password everywhere, now the attacker can go and log into anything as you.
That's a good point. And nowadays with the password things that you have on Apple and Google and things like that, that kind of helps you to do these more secure passwords.
Yeah. And so I know we've given some kind of generic, let's get back to the travel. Okay. You know, notify your bank before you travel. That's really important because we say that you often want to, I mean, you want to take your debit card with you because often we will use the debit card to withdraw money from the ATM. Yes.
Yes. Right.
And so, you know, let the bank know that you're going to be traveling to Cairo. And so they might see a transaction from an ATM. And then that way they don't shut you down. So let them know before you go.
And usually that is there's a message app, like you log into your bank before you go, and you can message them and say, hey, this is what I'm doing. Or if all else fails, you can just call and have them note that. But that's a good point. Okay, what else?
I would also say use a credit card for purchases while you travel. Don't use your debit card. There's a lot of protections that are available to you through your credit card that don't exist necessarily with the debit card. And, you know, that debit card, that's your account. That's your real money. And so if they compromise that and they take all that money out, you have lost all of your real money. With a credit card, you can go and file a claim that someone has stolen your money, whatever. But, you know, it's just it's not the same level of protection with the debit card. So don't use your debit card when traveling for purchases and things like that.
Only at the ATMs.
That would be my recommendation.
OK, but it's OK at the ATMs. And that's really is the best way to do that. But just not anywhere else. Especially if you're traveling
Especially if you're traveling overseas, because remember, a lot of the cards that we recommend to you don't have foreign transaction fees on them. And if you use that debit card, you're going to pay foreign transaction fees and that will rack up very quickly. Yeah, that's true. Freeze your credit across all three bureaus. So Equifax, Experian, TransUnion. I know this is a generic one. You should just do this whether you're traveling or not. And then when you need someone to access your credit history, then you can do an unfreeze at that time. But I would freeze all of your credit across those three agencies.
And you just Google like freeze whatever and it'll walk you through the steps. Okay. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Make sure that you have a password or a PIN number or some type of biometric set up on all your devices. So, like, on your phone, use Face ID, a thumbprint, you know, reader, something like that. You know, don't take those controls off of your device. Because what happens if you set it down somewhere and walk away and forget it? Well, then whoever picks it up has access to everything on your phone. So don't do that, right? Make sure that you have some type of protection on those.
Okay. So when you're traveling, other than watching out then for public Wi-Fi, what else should we be thinking of in terms of security?
think about Well, how you share information on social media while you're traveling. Everybody loves to look at me. say, oh, Here's where I'm at. This is what I'm doing. You and kind of share that And we often think about that, know, information. oh, we're just letting our friends and family know what's going on and to share in on some of the good times. And we do a lot of that, right? We are travel content creators. And so it's about sharing information for us. But there are a few things that you should always keep in mind when you are sharing information on social media. So number one, don't share exactly where you're staying while on the trip. You can always share information about a great hotel or an Airbnb after you leave. You know, you don't want to tell just the general public and, you know, you don't know how things are set up. If it's, you've got it going public or if it's friends of friends of friends and who knows who they're your friends, friends are and stuff like that. Just be very careful on what you're sharing. And I would say, and when you're sharing it, you know, while you're traveling. Okay. Don't use charging stations that are set up in public spaces. Oh my gosh. I just die when I see people at airports and they're gathered around this little box and it says charging station. And they've all got their phones plugged in there. You don't know what that's plugging into. There could be a small computer back there that you're now plugging your phone into. And think about it, that is a data connection. And so now this, you know, charging cable has direct access to your phone and all the data on
it. Okay. So this is when it has the cable or no, just if you're charging and plug into a charging station.
Well, you'll see them in airports often. Yeah. And it says, you know, free charging station or something like that. And you're just going and there's like plugs coming out of a cubby or something and you plug it in and it's a way to charge your phone. You think. Yeah, that's
true.
And in some cases it really is. But in other cases they could be even installing something on your phone. Gotcha. So the best bet is not to plug into these USB things
So the best bet is not to plug into these USB things anywhere, like even in like the seats and stuff in the airport. Like you just don't know is what you're saying. It's so simple these days
just don't know is what you're saying. It's so simple these days to carry a charging block or something like that and have that with you to charge your device when you need it. Don't plug into any of these public charging stations ever.
That's news to me. So I don't know that I've done that because I do. I'm a big, huge advocate of these charging blocks, but that is very good to know. Okay, what else?
So along the same lines of don't use these, you know, public charging stations, also avoid using shared computers at hotels or internet cafes. You know, down the lobby, often of the hotels, they'll have a computer set up that you, you know, at the business center or whatever, where you can connect. You don't know what's on that computer and it's not to be trusted at all. And so you definitely wouldn't want to do anything there that would share any kind of password or anything like that because you don't know where that information is going. Same thing for, you know, internet cafes. If you're in an internet cafe, make sure you're using your own device, not a shared device. The next thing is be careful walking around with your nose stuck in your phone. It takes your attention away from your surroundings. So we've all been there and done that. We're using the Maps app or something like that, and we're trying to figure out where we're going. And we're paying attention to our phone and not our surroundings. A couple of things that could happen. You could stumble into danger. You could walk into somebody or something. But the other thing that can happen is you don't see who's around you. And you could be in danger of someone walking up behind you and actually, you know, stealing your device and running or something like that. And I've got a friend of mine, he was coming out of a Starbucks. And so I should say he was in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. He was coming out of a Starbucks with his iPhone in his hand, and he was reading messages or something like that. And he had, of all things, he had a Rolex on his arm and he got robbed at gunpoint. You just know, being aware of your surroundings. if he hadn't have been wearing anything A, that's the first thing you know, flashy, is, avoid flashy big expensive jewelry, things watches, like that when you're watches, traveling. And then pay attention to your surroundings so that you know that someone might be walking up to You could step back into that you. I mean, Starbucks. he was literally right outside the door of the Starbucks when he got robbed at gunpoint. And Right. you so, just know, be very focused on your surroundings.
Yeah. And one thing that we like if you're traveling in a group and somebody is trying to figure you out, know, where to walk you and, know, having one person and then everybody else kind of watching. But especially like if you are by yourself to like kind of know ahead of time, here's where I'm going. Let me have some landmarks and then let me find another place where I can really pay attention to surroundings and stuff like that. I think that's a great idea. You just you can't have your attention in too many places at one time. And I've
I've seen a lot of reels recently from London where people be, you know, on their phone walking down the street and then somebody comes by on a bicycle and just snatches the phone and is gone. Right. So just, just be aware of your situation. Right. So just just be aware of your situation. And then is be cautious finally, of calls pretending to be your bank wanting you to provide personal information. Most banks aren't going to do that. I mentioned that earlier, but I think especially when you are traveling, you know, you it may not be a red flag that you get a call from your bank because you're like, oh, hey, they've got a question about maybe my usage or something like that. They're not going to start asking you for a bunch of personal information. And if they do, hang up. And I would say for your bank, call a number, call the bank directly, a known number for the bank and for like your credit cards there's a number on the back of the credit card you call that number don't call anything else and so if you have any questions you call them yeah and i think probably years ago you sort of gave me a good rule of thumb is
i think probably years ago you sort of gave me a good rule of thumb is if somebody calls you, no, like you, like even if it's something that you are interested in or you want to check on, it's like you just said, you then call and it's not the number they give you, right? You then call the number that you know. It's just always a good practice. Well, and it may not be a
and it may not be a call. It could be a text message, right? You see that a lot
a lot
lot is, you know, oh, we've detected fraud on your account. Text us back your bank account pin number or something like that, right? It's stupid that we would ever in any situation think that that's real. But sometimes we're just caught off guard by those type of things. And so I just want to make you aware of this. I want to bring this to your attention so that if you get that, you know, because it might even have like a looks like a website for you to enter something in. No, your bank's not going to do that. So what you need to do is pick up your debit card or your credit card, and you call the number on the back of that card. Yeah, which is sometimes in a panic or in a situation where you feel
which is sometimes in a panic or in a situation where you feel like, it's like you said, you just get caught off guard, and then you do things that aren't in the rational mind, I think.
And that's exactly what bad guys do, is they often will try to force you into something, right? They play on that, you know, the heartstrings or the emotions or whatever you want to say. And usually one of the signs you can always look for is you need to do something right now, right? If there's something that they're telling you, you need to do this right away, throw up the red flag and stop. Because that's usually them trying to get you to take an action that you wouldn't normally take.
That's a great point.
And I would say always, if there's something going on in the world, that is a great time for bad guys to try to play on your heartstrings. Let's show our support by donating money. You can donate money through this link or whatever, and they'll do it time and time again. And they will go after those people who are just sincere and want to help, but they end up giving the money to the bad
guys. So Scott, before we close up, let's talk a little bit more about the VPN and then any other things that come to mind, but especially the VPN, like which one do you recommend? You know, how do you get it? How do you install it, etc?
Yeah, so I recommend ExpressVPN. Like I said, they've been around for, I think, since like 2004 or something like that. So they've been around for 20 years or so. And, you know, they have a high level of security that gets certified in all of their locations, all of their data centers. their locations, all of their data centers.
And like I said, what that does is that gives you that private connection between you and their data center. And so you know no one's listening in to any traffic between there. So in the resources page on our website, we have a link to ExpressVPN. And so, you know, you can connect to them through there. We'll put some links in the show notes. You can go through that as well. But ExpressVPN is the one that I've been using for many years. It works all the time. I've never had a problem where it doesn't work. And this is not just something like when you're
is not just something like when you're traveling, because a lot of the things that we talk about, OK, you know, you need to eat them. You might need travel insurance. You might need some of these other things. But this is something that's probably a good idea to have if you ever go to places where you might hop on these Wi-Fi networks. But then also, like you're saying, if you get blocked out of your Braves game, there you go. That's right.
That's right.
Whether you're connecting to public Wi-Fi, booking your next accommodation, or posting some epic travel photos, stay mindful of your online security. We hope you found today's episode helpful. If you did, share it with your fellow travelers. We'd also love to hear from you. What is your biggest cybersecurity concern when traveling? Send us a message, scott at sunshinetravelers.com, or leave a comment on social media.
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