Cybersecurity Tips For Your Next Business Trip

It’s the time of the year when people rush to travel. With the busy travel season drawing near, it is crucial for travelers to be very careful.

Whether you travel just for the love of it or you have to because of your line of work, traveling especially when going abroad, presents a distinctive cyber security threat. Business travellers are vulnerable since they commonly take with them sensitive business and personal data, on different devices like tablets, laptops, and smartphones. Security isn’t something that can be provided to you by a single machine. You require a security suite that can help safeguard all of your devices, including your iPad, Android smartphone, Mac, and Windows PC.

Does that mean you cannot travel anymore? Of course not! Here are some of the most effective cybersecurity tips when you are traveling abroad.

Lock Down Your Devices

Laptops, tablets, and smartphones have security settings that will allow you to lock your device with a fingerprint ID or a pin. You must do this on all of your devices. Also, while you are traveling, don’t forget to change the PIN numbers. In case you misplaced any of your devices, your PIN will be your first line of defence against potential security breaches.

Public Wi-Fi Isn’t Always Safe

The regulations and laws that monitor cyber security in other nations are not the same as the ones implemented in the United States. It is undeniable that free Wi-Fi access could be appealing not only for leisure travellers but for business travellers as well. However, it also poses security risks. Don’t use unencrypted Wi-Fi networks, if you are at the hotel, ask about their security protocols before connecting to their Wi-Fi. You have to be extra cautious when using the internet at cafes and if possible, don’t use personal accounts or access sensitive data while you are connected to a public Wi-Fi.

Disable Auto-Connect

Most smartphones in the United States have a feature that lets a device to connect to Wi-Fi networks automatically as you go through them throughout the your daily activities. Although it is a nice feature when utilized at home, it is not a feature that you have to use when traveling abroad. Before you go traveling, you need to change this setting so that your laptop and smartphone need to be manually connected every time you want to access the internet.

Minimize Location Sharing

It is very common for business and leisure travellers to post on their social media accounts whenever they visit a new place. This main problem with this kind of excessive sharing is that it makes your home vulnerable. By posting that you are not at home, you are telling criminals that you are not home or in your hotel room. It is best to limit the information that you post online especially when it comes to your specific whereabouts.

Install Anti-Virus Software

The most effective and easiest to secure your personal information and company information while traveling is by installing an anti-virus protection. Apart from that, you need to update the program regularly whenever newer versions are available.

Update Your Operating System

Just like the anti-virus that you need to install in your devices, the operating system must also be kept up to date. This is applicable not only on your laptops or desktops but also on the apps of your phone.

Update Your Passwords

In case you are scheduled to travel, you have to change all of your passwords that you use regularly. If you need to create a PIN for a security box or safe in a hotel room, be sure that it is unique and not something that you use regularly.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. if you need the expert assistance of IT experts in securing your personal and business information.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Myrtle Beach, SC  29577
843-418-4792
https://www.spartantec.com/

New Adware Uses Interesting Technique To Avoid Detection

Being more of a nuisance than anything, adware doesn't see as many innovations as other forms of malware. Once in a while, an adware developer surprises the security researchers.

That happened recently when two researchers working for enSilo discovered an innovation in an adware strain, known as DealPly.

As Adi Zeligson and Rotem Kerner indicated in a recent blog post, DealPly has some interesting features bolted on, which make it much more adept than most other forms of adware at avoiding detection by antivirus programs.

The adware is typically installed on a target's machine by being bundled with a legitimate app.  Once it's installed, it will add itself to the Windows Task Scheduler and run every hour.  Each time it runs, it will contact its command and control server and request instructions.

Here's where things get interesting. DealPly was designed modularly and makes use of Virtual Machine Detection and Machine Fingerprinting techniques.

Microsoft SmartScreen is one of two major systems used to verify the risk of files and web addresses.  It's updated regularly with newly blacklisted sites.  Naturally, malware authors find this to be a problem because it only gives them a limited window of time before their code and malicious URLs wind up on the list.

DealPlay, however, contains code that seems to be based on a reverse-engineering of Microsoft SmartScreen. When it contacts its command and control server, it requests a list of hashes and URLs to query using the SmartScreen reputation server. Once it has its list of queries to make, it will send a JSON request to the SmartScreen API to see if the server will respond with any of the following:

• UNKN Unknown URL/File
• MLWR Malware related URL/File
• PHSH Phishing related URL/File

Essentially, this query allows DealPly to know whether it has been blacklisted.  If so, the software enters an idled state until it can be updated.  This allows DealPly's developers a something close to real-time mechanism to know when they need to update their code, allowing them to stay ahead of the curve.  Very clever.  Very clever indeed, and troubling to IT staff everywhere.  We can expect this technique to be copied by other malware developers, worldwide.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. and let our team of IT experts check your business' vulnerability to the most common online threats. We can help you protect your business from data breaches.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Myrtle Beach, SC  29577
843-418-4792
https://www.spartantec.com/