October 21, 2015 at 10:43 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Dangers of Travel
October 21, 2015 at 11:41 pm
Like the hanko[1] in Japan, these devices are becoming an extension of ourselves. It is not uncommon for a device to have our authority. Many a tablet or smartphone has e-mail-authorisation, facebook-authorisation or even credit-card details already saved by their owner for their convenience. Unfortunately, to the convenience to whomever has the device. Lose the device and suddenly a part of you is unintentionally exposed. The device itself is easily replaced at the loss of a couple of hundred «insert currency of choice». The unintended access to one's private data may well be much harder to undo.
[1] These are scary things. It is one's authorisation in stamp form. Lose it and all is not well.
The Wikipedia article is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_%28East_Asia%29#Japanese_usage
October 22, 2015 at 12:46 am
After what Snowden revealed about usa I think it's more than within reason that it can happen.
October 22, 2015 at 5:54 am
Once you cross the border you need to consider that you are on a network controlled by another government. Anything you transmit whether it is email or an web request is going to be captured and annotated against your device. Once you connect to the overseas network they have access to your device. I barely trust the networks we have in the USA; I would never trust a network in another country.
My recommendation is to acquire a throwaway phone from Walmart or similar place and use that while overseas. You may miss some of your apps and information but you will protect the device you use at home. I would also consider keeping an old laptop with a clean OS for use overseas.
Call me paranoid but I have seen how easy it is to hack a device and create havoc for an individual.
October 22, 2015 at 6:26 am
My work laptop is esstentially blank except for VPN stuff. All my tools are on a desktop at the office, but it could just as easily be installed on a virtual client running on a server somewhere like my developer coworkers in another office. They set themselves up that way so that it was less work for the IT team to deploy new workstations to our team since they can just give us a standard build and then deploy a copy of our development tools on a virtual machine.
Either way, sounds like the cloud is a solid solution to this new security issue as well.
October 22, 2015 at 6:39 am
You forgot to mention full disk encryption. Windows 10 Pro comes with Bit-locker which while not great is better than nothing. All of our work laptops are encrypted and it is a serious breach of policy to reveal your password to someone who has not been authorized. This does present a Catch 22 position of revealing your password and getting fired, or not revealing it and going to jail.
October 22, 2015 at 7:52 am
In the health industry we have the extra burden of keeping any Protected Health Information secure and the threat of government sanctions if we don't. Always working securely online and keeping nothing on the device sounds pretty good to me.
October 22, 2015 at 8:46 am
eric.notheisen (10/22/2015)
Once you cross the border you need to consider that you are on a network controlled by another government. Anything you transmit whether it is email or an web request is going to be captured and annotated against your device. Once you connect to the overseas network they have access to your device. I barely trust the networks we have in the USA; I would never trust a network in another country.My recommendation is to acquire a throwaway phone from Walmart or similar place and use that while overseas. You may miss some of your apps and information but you will protect the device you use at home. I would also consider keeping an old laptop with a clean OS for use overseas.
Call me paranoid but I have seen how easy it is to hack a device and create havoc for an individual.
Are you serious? I'll trust other networks (not all of them) over the USA networks in terms of privacy. Most countries aren't as paranoid as the US government, which means they're less intrusive.
October 22, 2015 at 9:10 am
My darkest secrets aren't online.
In terms of financial information I don't trust much to the Web but it is all pervasive. If you worry about it then you'll drive yourself mad.
We all live in a digital village where everyone minds everyone else's business and the powers that be are too many people with too few surnames and quite a few village idiots.
Through out history mankind has lived in fear of an all knowing all seeing God. We have created a very dark God
October 22, 2015 at 10:08 am
Alex Gay (10/22/2015)
You forgot to mention full disk encryption. Windows 10 Pro comes with Bit-locker which while not great is better than nothing. All of our work laptops are encrypted and it is a serious breach of policy to reveal your password to someone who has not been authorized. This does present a Catch 22 position of revealing your password and getting fired, or not revealing it and going to jail.
A big catch-22
October 22, 2015 at 10:20 am
October 22, 2015 at 1:38 pm
If you're traveling between countries that are not on good terms politically with each other, then it's a good idea not to bring along your laptop or smart phone, but instead to just bring a disposable pay-per-minute cell phone. Sure, it means you may get stuck at the airport without the internet, but that's a hell of a lot better than getting stuck at the airport while a couple of security personnel poke around through your contacts and email.
When you think about, it's crazy how in 2015 most everyone walks around with a complete list of their associates, correspondences, spending habits, and personal interests all conveniently tucked away in their pocket.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
October 22, 2015 at 2:16 pm
It's standard procedure for most corporations that when their execs travel to China that they're issued a new phone before they go and that phone is destroyed when they return. Lots of malware has been found on any device that enters and leaves China, and most of it is of government origin.
When my wife and I went to Germany for vacation this year, I left my laptop at home and bought a Chromebook for $200. It was infinitely lighter than my Air and all I really needed it for was some web surfing, email, and transferring pictures from my cameras to flash drives. It also ran for 10-15 hours on one charge. If it were lost or stolen then I'm out $200, no big deal. I was originally thinking about doing a fresh OS install on my Air so there's be lots of space and no data that could be stolen when I realized that buying a Chromebook was a lot less work.
I went back and forth on whether to take my iPhone to Europe. Since it was an international phone, all I'd need is to buy a new chip with a data plan. In the end I took it, though we had to buy a phone for my wife (less than $100 for a smartphone with a chip). They were invaluable for mapping (finding a route back to the ship!), finding restaurants, and looking up subway stops. And now we have two international phones for whenever we go to Europe again.
I think the best way to secure your information for international travel is a blank laptop and a virtual desktop, as noted, you'll be dependent on foreign internet speeds. If border control seizes it for some reason, you're out the cost of the hardware and your data is secure. Call the office when you first need it to have them activate it, call them when you leave to come home to have them shut it down until you return.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
October 22, 2015 at 3:33 pm
Wayne West (10/22/2015)
It's standard procedure for most corporations that when their execs travel to China that they're issued a new phone before they go and that phone is destroyed when they return. Lots of malware has been found on any device that enters and leaves China, and most of it is of government origin....
Ha! But Wayne, most iPhones, Androids, ChromeBooks are manufactured in China to begin with. 😉
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
October 22, 2015 at 4:08 pm
I don't know how much that's happening Steve. I just read the article that you linked to and the update reads,
"the Silver detention may be linked to an ongoing probe. Neither the anonymous sources, the mayor, nor the paper mention what that probe might be. "
So there may be a legit reason for DHS' actions, Stockton California is pretty corrupt but who knows...
I do know that last year the US Supreme court ruled that Police need warrant to search cell phones[/url]. What is a cop? Does that include the Feds? That I don't know but if someone did the same thing to me it appears that, based on the reason Court ruling, that I would have a strong argument that I was unlawfully detained and therefore am entitled to punitive damages.
In Canada, on the other hand, police or other government officials can search your phone without a warrant[/url]. I don't go to Canada enough to care though.
We're in uncharted waters for sure. Technology is evolving much faster than our legal system. There are a lot of unanswered questions. I encrypt my stuff, have my phone password protected and do what I can to keep myself safe.
-- Itzik Ben-Gan 2001
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