How not to get hacked during Holidays

Don’t let you vacations get ruined by some hackers that don’t have nothing else to do, be secure and enjoy your christmas holidays.

Some of the busiest travel days of the year is during winter holidays. And that means lots of people at airports using their smartphones to surf the net and charging their devices ahead of a long flight. That makes airports prime targets for hackers. Here are a few tips to help you and your data stay safe:

1. Never use a public charging station.

Plugging directly into a public charging USB port can put you at serious risk of “juice-hacking.” That’s when hackers use that same USB connection to transfer malware directly to your device and access your email, text messages, photos and contacts. Some can even take command of your camera to record everything you type and look at.

What can you do?
• Use your own USB cable and AC adapter to plug directly into a power outlet.
• Carry USB battery packs that are already charged and ready to go.

2. Beware of free public Wi-Fi.

What makes free Wi-Fi convenient to use is also what makes it dangerous. The most common way hackers threaten public Wi-Fi is through man-in-the-middle attacks, putting themselves between you and the connection point. Hackers can then access every piece of information you send out.

What can you do?
• Visit only encrypted websites. Look for HTTPS at the beginning of the URL instead of HTTP.
• Use your device’s 4G connection instead of public Wi-Fi. Yes, that will come out of your data plan, but 4G is safer because your carrier authenticates the connection and encrypts the data traveling over it. And if your plan allows it, you can also turn your phone into a personal hotspot that your laptop and other mobile devices can use, too.

3. Turn off GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

This prevents your device from inadvertently connecting to a network or device that has malicious intent.

Information source: CNET / BY MARGUERITE REARDON