Travel, the Internet and you

Summer is coming up and more and more people are going on vacation, where, as always, they will use mobile phones, tablets and laptops. Of course, during the trip you will want to check your mail, maybe do some work, you will also need to find entertainment and restaurants and, God forbid, it may rain, and then you, your friends and family will only have to “lie down” in the room and watch movies. And all this with the help of the Internet. When used safely, the Internet is a real find for travelers and vacationers: it is both a useful resource and a great entertainment in one bottle. With unsafe use of the Internet can be your worst nightmare, you may face damage and losses.

Travelers face many risks online

The introduction of digital technologies, computers and the Internet have helped to develop travel in the same way as the first ocean trips have helped to create ships, railways and airlines. However, many people forget the risks of using the Internet, which increase when using the World Wide Web remotely, while in another country, trying to remain unnoticed in the journey. Below is a list of possible risks for you.

Unsafe connections. If you are from a developed country, you may be accustomed to relative security when using the Internet. There is a certain amount of trust between you, the ISPS and the government that allows the public to work. Even so, connections are not as secure as they can be, they are open to anyone who wants to track them down. Being abroad increases the risk of being watched on the Internet, as well as the risk of losing your personal data, hackers and malware. If the country you are in is known for its desire to censor, monitor or otherwise control the Internet, you actually ask them to look after everything you do every time you log in.

Reliable connections/infrastructure is another travel problem. The country you are going to may be the most honest and trustworthy nation on the planet, but it may not have the infrastructure necessary to provide reliable and secure connections. At the same time, public Wi-Fi in a coffee shop cannot be so secure either. It’s easy to get access to the devices connected to these networks and that makes them the main hunting grounds for crooks and thieves.

Information leakage is a huge problem no matter where you live or what your status is. A leak means that your data and information are lost when transmitted over the Internet. For example, when a social network such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube accesses your mobile phone/laptop/tablet to “improve its service to you. However, when you request access to your contacts, profile and other data “that may be required”, they do not report that this information is often passed on to other applications. Facebook, for example, is notorious for adding new apps to its platform and passing on to them all the information it has collected about you. Every time this happens, there is another server involved, another database you are in, and the chances of information leakage increase. The number of unreported information leaks has increased to 85% since 2014 by 2015, and dozens of times in 2016.

Hacking is also a big problem when using the Internet, especially if you are a wealthy person. Hackers can take advantage of known local network vulnerabilities to use you, send you to fake or clone sites, steal your identity, bank accounts, trade secrets, or introduce malware into your system. Unsecured connections and weak infrastructure make this problem worse. In its 2016 Internet security report, Semantic said that the number of still unknown vulnerabilities increased to 125% in 2015 alone.

Geo location tracking is also an important consideration and there are several reasons for this. For the average person, Geo location or Geo targeting means that you can’t freely stream video over the Internet. Live broadcasts on many popular websites, such as the BBC and ABC, are only available in the countries where they are based. For some people, the word “Geo location” has a more sinister meaning. It can allow intruders to track your connections and access your devices, even determine your physical location. Learn how to protect your location information on your devices.

The Internet of Things is growing very fast. It is estimated that by 2020 there will be more than 50 billion connected devices, and an average of 1 person will have at least 6 such devices. The Internet of Things is convenient for optimizing operations, controlling the climate in your home or tracking your sporting activities, but there is also a downside to the coin: the devices can connect to their own manufacturer’s websites or to anyone else’s without your permission through an insecure and unreliable connection that can be used by Internet fraudsters. It will be very difficult to know when and where your Bluetooth and other connected devices will be able to access the network, or someone will be able to access them.

Boring. It’s possible that no matter how much you try to avoid it, you’ll have to kill time on the road. It may rain, you may get sick, you may be late, you may miss your flight, or you may be late, and you will have no other way out but to surf the Internet to have fun and at the same time be exposed to one of the risks listed above.

What is a VPN? Which VPN is best for use on the road?

The abbreviation “VPN” stands for “Virtual Private Network”. This solution was created by the government to ensure the security of connections on public networks, i.e. on the Internet. This is achieved by creating a digital tunnel through which your connections pass. These connections are virtually invisible on the Internet, but even if they are discovered, they are a difficult prey for someone who wants to track you down, use you, or access your device. The VPN also uses a dedicated network. Your devices bypass local ISPS by connecting to a dedicated VPN server that provides an additional layer of security. The best VPN also include encryption, so that if someone accidentally or intentionally gains access to your connection, they will never be able to read it.

Previously, VPN technologies were only available to large corporations and government agencies with the necessary budget and IT staff. Despite the need for a dedicated server network, these technologies were not available until recently, when commercially available VPN became available. What is the best VPN for use abroad? Which VPN is the best for travel? Well, free VPN may not be the best choice. It’s nothing but a phishing scam disguised as security. These networks collect exactly the data you want to hide, making it available to anyone they want to sell it to, and providing really secure VPN services to them is clearly not the first place.

Use super vpn on your journey, because now you know why you need it and why it’s so important.