The 2016 summer Olympics are right around the corner, and what better way to get psyched up for your trip than a quick cyber security warning?! A few short weeks before the games begin, U.S. officials are warning travelers to protect their electronic devices and be on the lookout for cyber criminals. Trips to Rio are shaping up to be very exciting with travelers facing not only Zika, but political unrest, financial crisis and now cyber attacks!
United States chief counter-intelligence executive, Bill Evanina is urging travelers to only bring “clean” devices without valuable archives wherever they travel. The same advice goes to anyone planning to travel overseas in the future. Evanina told USA Today that international events like the Olympics are a “great playground” for government intelligence services and criminals mostly because of the large concentration of devices present. Honestly, that sounds like the least fun playground we could imagine.
The U.S. government is launching a campaign called, “Know the Risk: Raise Your Shield,” to warn travelers that they may be tracked through mobile phones and internal microphones can be controlled remotely. Yes, you read that correctly, hackers could possibly access the internal microphone on your device, so careful what you say!
Precautions summarized by the National Counterintelligence and Security Center are outlined as part of the campaign. Here are just some ways to keep yourself safe, via USA Today:
• Leave unnecessary devices at home.
• Back up data on devices in use and leave those copies in secure locations at home.
• Change passwords at regular intervals during travel and on return.
• Avoid prolonged sessions on local Wi-Fi networks.
• Submit company devices for examination on return for presence of malware.
Anyway, have fun at the Olympics!
(Via USA Today)