One of the advantages of the pandemic lockdown has been the reduction in travelling out of South Africa due to travellers being a key target for cybercriminals. However, with President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing at the beginning of this month that the national state of disaster on Covid-19 was cancelled with all but three of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions removed, a lot more people are starting to travel again. This is resulting in cybercriminals upping their game in targeting travellers for various reasons.
Business travellers in particular typically take their laptop computers with them when they travel out of the country and this puts them at additional risks if they have stored a lot of business data on their laptops. Also, accessing Wifi in places like restaurants or pubs can result in someone hacking into the laptop if the necessary security software is not installed and activated. Having a Virtual Private Network app like F-Secure’s freedome VPN helps prevent someone from accessing your data. Passwords can also be compromised by dodgy people observing you typing it into your laptop or phone without you realising it and then they will try to distract you to have your device stolen. Leaving laptops in a car without you in it also puts you at risk and one should either keep the laptop in your possession always or store it in the boot of the car without anyone witnessing you doing this.
Ideally one needs to manage all your device passwords by using something like F-Secure’s ID Protection that requires you to have only one sophisticated password to access the app that then fills in a whole range of different and complex passwords for you on other apps without you needing to remember any of them. Ideally one also shouldn’t download any software on your devices while you are out of the country as this can make you more vulnerable. Ideally one should also make any electronic due payments when still in the country or when you return and if you have any details of your credit or debit cards on your phone or laptop they should be removed before leaving the country as you shouldn’t need them if you have the physical cards on you.
One could also leave such details with someone you trust implicitly so that you could call them for the information if your cards do get stolen off you whilst overseas. Also make sure that you have your passport and ID in a close pocket on you at all times because apart from the hassle of needing to make an arrangement with Home Affairs to return home without your passport if it gets stolen, getting these documents replaced in South Africa is a major mission currently with people spending ages in queues to apply for replacement IDs and passports.