Traveling with Data

In today’s connected world, it isn’t uncommon for business people to travel internationally to meet with partners, colleagues, and investors.  Traveling today means extra special care must be considered when staff are transporting potentially sensitive data across these borders.  Common threats to business travelers include Wi-Fi hotspots, untrusted hotel Internet connections, border or custom officials, and theft or loss of physical devices.  To help protect your organization and your people, it is important to create an international travel policy when traveling with corporate data and assets. 

 

Whether traveling internationally, or commuting daily on a public train or bus, people log onto corporate laptops and work on sensitive information with little regard for what is going on around them.  Maybe there is some element of trust when people take the same train each and every day.  The problem is traveling by air can be one of the most likely spots to lose data. 

 

Airports offer wireless Internet access for their patrons but who can tell how secure these hotspots are?  The connections are not encrypted and it is highly likely that these hotspots have been hacked, with stealthy users now watching your every move.  People want to stay connected, and hackers take advantage of this by setting up fake hotspots that attract people anxious to connect with business and friends.  For business travelers, the biggest dangerous hotspot venues are the airports. 

 

The clientele of airports, simply be sheer nature of the industry, varies daily and never are people in one place long enough to gain any relationships with fellow passengers.  This leaves airports as one of the most compromised places, with thefts and pickpocket activity occurring around the globe.  With added security since 9/11, many travelers know to keep their bags and valuables within sight at all times, but this attitude is lost as soon as a laptop or tablet opens to corporate information.  In the USA, border guards and customs officials are allowed to confiscate any equipment they want, and do with the data as they please.  This means copying it, sending it to other agencies, and obtaining access to encrypted containers. 

 

Some countries can be difficult to travel to with laptops because of import laws.  If a business traveler cannot prove they are not importing a laptop, they may lose the equipment.  Some countries do not want people to connect to the Internet and expose any corruption or fraud to the media.  And malicious officials may be involved as well, asking for a special tax to be paid to them before releasing the laptop back to its owner. 

 

Take extra special caution when traveling with data.  If possible, use a clean, freshly imaged machine that has no corporate data stored locally.  Always use your company’s VPN to access and update corporate documents.  And watch where you are using your laptop –make sure to position yourself against a solid wall so that no one can shoulder surf or gather information through a window.