Whenever you travel with friends or family, we all always tend to let social media know, that we’re 2 days 6 hours and 55 seconds away from leaving. What you are doing is announcing to the world that your home is vacant obviously increases the odds of a break-in, so what happens to your corporate laptop or personal devices containing corporate data that you leave at home? social media posts can also be used to facilitate identity theft and execute social engineering attacks against businesses. There are a few ways to help you, and prevent you from having to worry about personal items being stolen or hacked.
When traveling, the most important thing to do is NEVER share your flight plans. No outside source should know your flight time, who you are flying with, when and where you are flying too etc. Sharing your travel information puts your home and office at increased risk of theft. And if crooks steal personal computing devices you use for work, your company’s IT systems could be exposed as well. Cybercriminals use personal data such as flight information to craft more effective spear phishing scams as well as other social engineering campaigns against you. They can also use this data to fake a kidnapping and demand ransom payments from friends, relatives, and even an employer. That might sound a little far-fetched, but this type of virtual kidnapping has reached epidemic levels in certain areas.
If you want to ask friends for advice about travel sights that you plan to visit, ask them, but do not express that you already have plans to travel to that location. For example ask recommendations about what to see in New York for a trip sometime in the near future, but do not set a specific dates on when you plan to travel, and to where. This information could also expose you to phishing scams.
Making sure your social media accounts are secure before you go on vacation is also very important. You may be using poor internet connections while away from home (which I do not advise. It would say use your data if possible), so take whatever steps you can before you travel to protect your accounts. If you do use insecure Wi-Fi while on vacation, make sure to take proper precautions.
Finally another major step, is to post pictures AFTER your vacation. It is difficult to do, many people like to post photos on social media while they are away so everyone can see what they are currently doing. Of course, the urge to share these items is strong, but does the world really need to know that your house is empty and available to be burglarized?
The bottom line is that you should always think about what you put on social media before you post it. Furthermore, understand the network from which you are posting. Could the information you are sharing help cyber criminals target you or your work. If you like to read more, like and share this article and follow my Facebook page. Enjoy!