We are in the middle of the vacation period, starting to plan or enjoy personal and professional rest. Now, this does not imply that we should lower our guard.
At the company level, it is an ideal time to carry out all kinds of installations, updates, migrations and any other changes or revisions in the systems security environment. Especially those tasks that we have had for the rest of the year, to postpone so as not to disrupt the daily operations of the business activity.
On a personal level and despite being considered a period of disconnection from the daily routine, we have so assimilated the new technologies that, according to industry statistics, the use of applications, social networks and leisure web pages and booking of accommodation and activities, increases in summer by 200%. Not only among adults, but also and especially among minors and teenagers.
Be alert to the following vacation risks:
- Detect and avoid false vacation rentals and reservations ; always using pages and applications of official companies in the tourism sector.
- Be wary of bargains, raffles and discounts ; especially if they do not have accessible conditions or participation bases in which we can consult detailed information about it.
- Do not accept any method of payment; If you are asked to enter all your card details in a single form, without a payment gateway, it could be a fraud.
- Make a backup of the device before you leave;thus in case of loss or theft of our mobile phone we will avoid losing all our personal information and pictures.
- Download only strictly useful applications and when you return from vacation delete them;it is especially recommended not to maintain applications of establishments, events, games (hotels, weddings, leisure, etc.), otherwise they will continue to record information.
- Be careful with using public Wi-Fi networks ; do not connect to free networks that are open and in which no connection code is required, if it is not strictly necessary or urgent.
- Do not click on links or download files from emails;especially if they are from recipients you do not know or are not related to your vacation.
- It is not necessary to publish all our vacation activity in detail and live ; unless we are instagramers and make a living from it, the worst thing that can happen to us if we constantly publish personal information about destination, location, dates, photos, videos, etc. is that we may be not only victims of cyberattacks, but also of break-ins and robberies at home. Cybercriminals are criminals who have evolved with new technologies, but that does not mean that they stop using in addition other “old school” methods (stealing, scamming, blackmailing, etc.).
IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you have the slightest suspicion about a communication or believe you may have been the victim of a cyberattack, do not hesitate to report it to your line manager, the CISO Security Manager and the IT department, so that they can advise you appropriately. And on a personal level he reports the cyberattack to the police authority.