Dear CDT friends and family,
This time of year finds many of us on the road. Between visiting friends, family, and escaping the holiday rush, we find ourselves in unusual places and on unfamiliar networks, putting our digital selves at risk.
Your data travels with you. Take these three easy steps to help protect it.
1. Update your passwords. Are you using "123456", "password", or even "monkey" to protect your accounts? If so, update your passwords - these were some of the most commonly used credentials in 2018. Use a password manager, which can store and generate unique passwords for each of your accounts.
2. Set up two-factor authentication. So you've changed your passwords, and even have a password manager. Congratulations! Go one step further, and set up two-factor authentication on your accounts. This sets up a log-in protocol in which you have to verify that it is, indeed, you trying to log into your accounts, and can help protect you if hackers are trying to gain access.
3. Don't use the coffee shop Wi-Fi. Or if you do, be careful. Connecting to public Wi-Fi networks makes your traffic easy to snoop. Protect yourself by using a VPN or personal mobile hotspot. You should look for providers that make clear promises about not selling your data and that use industry-standard security measures like strong encryption.
Interested in learning more travel tips? Check out this Techsplanation article from last year, full of naughty and nice travel tech.
Happy holidays,
Your friends at CDT
