Green Holidays

Welcome back after several weeks - and are you ready for some more great tips to help you stay safe on-line!

Don’t Use Auto-save Tools While Travelling.
The number of times I went onto a computer abroad to find other users still logged in to things like Facebook and Hotmail was amazing!  Although these still require passwords for ordinary people to get in - other users can be a bit more creative at getting details.

And many sites will automatically bring up your logged in home page if you type in the URL again after not logging out.  My laptop remembers them all unless I log out or actually shut down the computer. 

Makes my day a lot easier - but it could spell disaster if you weren’t the only one logging in.  How many Internet cafes restart their computers between users?  I bet it is virtually none! 

Next time you hop on to a shared computer - go to the pc’s history and pull up some of the sites the last user went to and see if they left any of them ‘open’.  Then you can see for yourself how easy it is.

So, make sure you always click ‘log out’ and wait for it to show the log in screen again - checking that your details are not in there!

Not everyone does it by mistake though - a lady using a computer before me had unbelievably left her email inbox open - and on the screen for all to see!  Can you imagine the damage an open email account full of account confirmation details and passwords could have?  What about access to all those friends addresses and contact numbers that could have been used by a stranger!

Streams of Spam are almost certain to follow!

I think some people get so used to leaving these details on their own or friends computers that they just don’t think of all the dangers out there.  Even if you think you are the only one using the hotels computer - it doesn’t matter.  These are your personal details and you could be exploited.  Even if it’s only your email, they could check all the other sites you had been to that day and add things together - or, of course, just email your friends and ask them!

Delete Your Cookies And Your Internet History - Every Time.
If you were using Internet Explorer, you will be able to clear your history of sites visited and also clear your cookies (small files automatically saved on a pc, which can identify your personal details and what you did on the pc).

It’s very easy to clear these - and worth remembering.  And it means that whoever uses the computer after you (that day, week or month even) won’t be able to find out which sites you visited and any transactions of personal information you needed for that.

To do so: select Tools, then Internet Options, then click the Delete Cookies and Clear History buttons before pressing OK.

It may well take a few minutes to do this as it will be deleting not only your details, but also the hundreds of details before that no-one else bothered to clear.  It would be wise to start this about 5 minutes before your ‘paid’ time runs out to make sure it is done before you run out of minutes! 

If you are staying in the same location, it might be wise to then return to this same computer so that you know that you are safe every time rather than risking a different pc each visit!

Avoid Using Unsecured, Unencrypted Wi-Fi.
Using encrypted Wi-Fi isn’t the main concern here as this is generally very safe - but don’t assume all Wi-Fi is safe!  If you end up using unsecured, unencrypted Wi-Fi, you could leave yourself open to invasion.

Accessing the Internet via an unencrypted Wi-Fi hot-spot in a small cafe or hostel may well allow all your personal details to ’hang around’ that connected location.  It is here that anyone with knowledge of such things could access it!  Frightening stuff to think that someone can see what you did on your computer or laptop on their own screen just across the room from you! 

Basically anyone, with this kind of thing in mind, could be sitting near you - or even across the street - depending on the strength of the signal - accessing your laptop through theirs and ’seeing’ the pages that you visit.  They may even see the user-names and passwords which you type in.  They could also infect your laptop with a virus and access your accounts while you are in them yourself!

Take Care!

How do you stay safe when using an Internet cafe abroad or at home?

If you have transferred most of your subscriptions and bank accounts over to the Internet to save on paper and to increase your accessibility - why throw it all open to intruders?

I mean - when you use a computer that is used by more than one person - like in a hotel reception of Internet cafe - you don’t know who you are sharing your security with.  For example and pc in an Internet cafe could have 10 or more users every day downloading or uploading all sorts of data.

As a result of all these people and all their activities (downloading their photos, or transferring videos or other files from one place to another) each computer could be the host of all sorts of nasty viruses and potentially ‘bad’ software that people have accidentally allowed into the system - or who have done so on purpose!

Using my own experiences as a guide - and a bit of help from some of my ‘computery friends’ I have put together some simple security tips to help minimise the risk you take when using a shared pc.  This will help to keep your personal details safe from prying eyes where you least expect it - and help to stop people viewing your Internet history and reading about you in your cookies……

Start How You Mean To Go On.
The most important thing here is to look for a popular haunt for other travellers.  Is it busy with other travellers and/or was it recommended by your hotel? 

Inside, you could check whether their systems have any ‘anti-virus’ software running on them such as Norton (the yellow circle with the green tick) or AVG logo? 

If you see people downloading pictures from digital cameras, uploading videos and mp3s etc from the Internet, the greater the chance will be that they pass on viruses.  This is due to the increased interaction between the computers and other technology - where someone less careful than yourself has used a ‘dodgy’ computer and picked something up which they then ‘transfer’ onto a computer in your cafe. 

If they have powerful anti-virus software then this isn’t so much of an issue - although if the anti-virus picks something up and the pc users ignores or over-rides the warning then it can render this pointless to a certain extent!

Start A Quick Spy-ware Sweep Of Your Own.
If in any doubt at all about the safety of the pc - which is true for most shared computers abroad - find a free online spy-sweeper tool to run some quick checks for you. 

HouseCall is easy to find online - but there are many others you could use.  The idea of this is for it to identify obvious security problems with the computer before you type any passwords or personal details in - including your name and address.

And don’t forget that a virus in a computer can move onto anything else that you connect to it - it doesn’t just affect the pc.  For example - you could be trying to move your holiday snaps onto Facebook and suddenly the camera gets infected and you lose all your photos - your memory card will never work again! 

Imagine if you were trying to download the amazing footage of you rescuing a wild animal or flying a plane for the first time - lost in an instant along with everything else on your Flip camera.

There will be tears!

Password Protect Your Laptop.
If travelling with your own equipment you are still prone to many of the risks above and in Part 2 - but also to your data and laptop being stolen. 

One great stalling point is to add a decent password to it.  By this I don’t mean something obvious like the country you are in or your dogs name (as these may be obvious if you have been talking to people).  Make it long and difficult to guess like greenbeanandlean or bigbeesbotherbabies!

That way, even if someone steals your laptop - they may well never get to access any of your files.  It’s so simple -  but very effective.

See you later for Part 2 of Online Security For Your Online Lifestyle.