Computer Shopper - July 2017

CYBER INSIDER
Private principles
Tough new laws and the threats from open networks can ruin your privacy.
Cyber Insider is here to help
DATA SECURITY USED to be
easy. You’d just have to install
some internet security soft ware
on your computer, and you’d
be done. Today, with the
proliferation of smartphones,
laptops and wireless hotspots,
protecting your data has become
incredibly hard. It’s made even
harder by progressively tougher
surveillance laws, both at home
and abroad. It makes sense that
for this Cyber Insider, I should
talk about ways to legally protect
your data whether you’re at
home, out and about, or abroad.
First, let’s look at the US.
Thanks to President Donald
Trump, privacy seems to be a
thing of the past. Now, ISPs
have the rights to sell users’
browsing history without
consent, and visitors can have
their phones seized, with
Homeland Security requesting
security PINs so that all data
can be copied.
And it gets worse, with the
US now thinking about
requesting social media account
names and login details so that
a person can be vetted before
being allowed into the country.
The trick is to mitigate any potential
damage. Turning on two-factor
authentication is a good starting point
Currently, the US is targeting
people from seven Muslim
countries, but you have to
wonder how long this will last.
Indeed, there’s already talk
about the same checks being
performed on visitors from the
UK, France and Germany.
Certainly, no visitor arriving at
the US border is entirely safe
from being asked to hand over
their phone. Where the US leads,
other countries often follow or
react, so similar draconian
practices may start appearing
at other borders.
There’s a huge legal question
about whether any of this is
strictly allowed. But it makes
little difference if you’ve been
dragged off to a little room to
have a chat about your phone.
So what can you do?
ENTRY LEVEL
There’s not much you can do
about having to hand over data.
Clearing your phone of data and
apps is a no-go, as that’s a red
fl ag to immigration and could
result in you being denied entry.
The trick, then, is to mitigate
any potential damage. Turning
on two-factor authentication is
a good starting point. That way,
your accounts can’t be accessed
with the password alone, should
you have to hand over that bit
of information. Instead, you
also need an automatically
generated code, which can be
created by an app or sent via
text message to your phone.
It’s easy to argue that two-factor
authentication is a common
technology designed for security
in case of any tricky situations
with immigration officials.
I also recommend using a
temporary password for all
accounts. That way, if you have
to hand over the information,
you can change the password at
a later date, reducing damage.
Likewise, change the PIN on your
phone for a temporary one for
travelling: if your phone has to
be searched, you can hand over
the PIN, safe in the knowledge
that you can change it back
again later. Ultimately, that’s
about all you can do, and if you
really don’t want to hand over
any information, the best advice
is not to travel to the US.
BROWSER PRESS
A second threat comes from
when you browse the internet.
As we’ve seen, US ISPs can
collect a lot of data on you, but
then again so can the UK
government. Even worse, Wi-Fi
hotspots can be notoriously
insecure, with unencrypted
communication easy for hackers
to spy on. There have even been
cases of hackers setting up fake
Wi-Fi hotspots for the sole
purpose of stealing login details.
You can’t take any chances. If
you think you’re in a potentially
insecure area, it’s best to protect
your internet traffic immediately.
That means using a virtual private
network (VPN). With a VPN, your
network traffic is securely
encrypted and sent across the
internet to a secure endpoint
where it pops out as normal.
Using a VPN has two
advantages. First, your internet
traffic can’t be snooped on;
second, the endpoint masks
your real location so any
service you visit can’t work out
where you’re located.
EXPRESS DELIVERY
With a proper VPN, such as the
excellent ExpressVPN (www.
expressvpn.com), you can choose
which country you want to
appear in. For example, if you
were in the US, you could tell
ExpressVPN to use one of its UK
endpoints, making it look as if
you’re at home. This way, you
avoid any potential snooping in
the place you’re currently
located, and you can access local
UK services, such as BBC iPlayer.
There is no technology
greater for protecting your
security and privacy than a
VPN. After security soft ware,
the VPN is the next most
important tool that you can
have. VPNs are perfectly legal
technology and have a strong
security reason for being used,
should you need to justify it.
While we can’t completely
fi ght back against governments
or protect data entirely, we
shouldn’t take threats to security
or privacy lying down. Bigger
changes need to made, and it’s
worth voicing your opinion to
your MP to get the government
to address concerns both at
home and abroad.
10 JULY 2017 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 353