According to a recent survey by Kaspersky, those who travel abroad and use their laptops, phones or any other device, are not following the same safety advice they do when at home. The consequences of which could be disastrous.

The survey questioned consumers – 97% of whom had travelled to another country during the past 12 months – about their digital habits abroad. It found that in the world of work and leisure, many tend to leave our digital security at home.

Of those surveyed, more than half of respondents (58%) travelled abroad for leisure more than once in the last 12 months. Half (49%) travelled abroad in the past year on business, and a third (32%) have done so more than once.

Key Findings

• People are more likely to be robbed of their data than their travel money abroad. One in five people generally, (and three in 10 senior business managers), have been hit by cybercrime while abroad.
• Half of us are online by the time we leave the airport; the second nature of digital communications, plus the pressure from work, is driving people to connect to the first-available Wi-Fi network, regardless of security.
• Three in four people connect to free public Wi-Fi when abroad; a third connect with work devices, rising to almost half of business leaders.
• Half of people rely on their old internet habits from home to stay safe when surfing online abroad.
• Almost half of people bank or shop online via Wi-Fi on personal devices when abroad; a third use Wi-Fi to transmit confidential work information on work devices.
• Business people assume their work devices are safer because of in-built security.

The table above shows how much risk people take with their online security when travelling abroad, according to the survey.

Potential Effects

• Connecting to an open Wi-Fi opens you up to vulnerabilities from hackers and viruses.
• Any information taken by hackers can be used to take money from yourself, or your business/employer.
• Using your device in a public place abroad lets ‘shoulder surfers’ see all your personal details or work information.
• Giving away your location on social media may let criminals at home know your house is empty – and free to burgle.

For more information about the survey, and its results, visit Kaspersky’s blog page.

For more information about our work, please visit www.safeinwarwickshire.com/cybercrime

Be Cyber Streetwise is a cross-government campaign, funded by the National Cyber Security Programme. They aim to measurably and significantly improve the online safety behaviour and confidence of consumers and small businesses (SMEs).

Get Safe Online is the UK’s leading source of factual and easy-to-understand information on online safety. Their website offers advice on how you can protect yourself, your computers and devices, and your business against the likes of fraud, identity theft, viruses and other potential online problems.