Thread: Computer and cellphone safety abroad

Next week we are flying to Riga, Latvia for week's holiday. Every now and then we read stories in the newspapers and hear on tv about computers being hacked within a few minutes after arriving in former Eastern Bloc countries.
Are they true? And if so, is there an effective way of protecting laptops and cell phones or is it better to leave them at home?

I would advise staying off public wifi if possible, I know it's easier to do with cell phones than with laptops. If your cell provides the means for tethering, IE sharing its data connection with other devices, that may be more to your advantage. If not then there are options that one can consider.. VPN is one of the better ones. There are also public proxy servers as well. Then there is also TOR as well, been around a good bit and its one I have used overseas before. TOR basically reroutes your traffic over various servers and makes it look like your IP is from somewhere else .. Either way YMMV..

Do not connect to a password less network

If Your going on Vacation,Leave the cell and the laptop at home

Yep, but I assume he wants to stay connected

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

If Your going on Vacation,Leave the cell and the laptop at home

You forgot to mention that they should be left wrapped in aluminum foil!

Originally Posted by Utopian

You forgot to mention that they should be left wrapped in aluminum foil!

Why wrap them in tinfoil?

And in a metel
box

Make sure that any saved passwords are removed from your computer. Make sure your bank accounts and credit card accounts are not set to auto login. Make sure that you don't have anything on your devices that you wouldn't want the world to see or that can't live without.

And wrapped in tinfoil, in a metal box, surrounded by a faraday cage for added safety.

Update your virus and firewall software, and definitely take the advice already given. Personally, if I were going somewhere where I thought I'd get hacked I'd get an old laptop, install a linux on it, stick a web browser on that and let them have at it if they cared.

And enjoy your holiday!

James.