Posts Tagged ‘business travel’

Business travelers are often putting their data at risk by using public Wi-Fi access points – wireless networks freely available to connect to. When you don’t have a wired network access point, connecting to a wireless network at random may not be your best alternative. It can open you to malicious attacks and to those who track your activities – including capturing private information like passwords.

In order to avoid the risks associated with unknown Wi-Fi networks, there are two solutions you can use.

USB Internet Stick

By connecting a special USB stick to your computer, you can have access to the web in the same way you would with an internet-enabled phone – via a cellular network. Most major cellular providers have one of these options, though they go by many names – in Canada, examples are the “Rogers Rocket Stick” or the “Bell Wireless USB Modem”.

Right now, Verizon is the only company offering a USB modem that will work in 175 countries (Windows only).

The upside: it is more secure than a Wi-Fi access point
The downside: no added security benefits, most USB sticks are often country-specific, making them impractical for International business travelers.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A VPN supplies connectivity to support remote access to the business network. You connect to the internet with whatever means you have available – wired or wireless – and connect to the VPN. VPN technologies use tunneling to create the connection to the business network and uses encryption protocols to provide you with private access both to the company network and through it. This means you can access company data as well as access the Internet through this more secure connection.

A VPN uses various security mechanisms to protect these private / virtual connections. There are lots of vendors out there for VPNs, including the Cisco Easy VPN.

The upside: you connect to a secure network, so outsiders can’t monitor your web use

The downside: there are many technologies involved in choosing the right VPN solution for you. For some tips on choosing, visit here and here.

Although we’ve talked many times about the security issues around employees working remotely from home or while abroad, we haven’t specifically touched on the issues that the self-employed face when working at home.

We talk many times about the importance of keeping private or sensitive information on the corporate network, accessed remotely, but not stored on mobile devices. At home, this is more of a challenge because that data is in your home, on your home computers. One must consider physical data storage (bank information, tax returns, receipts, etc), as well as protecting the data you store on your desktop or laptop computers.

Basic data security tips:

1. Use strong passwords, and don’t write them down
2. Install an anti-virus solution & encryption solution
3. Keep your software up to date
4. Don’t click links or open files from untrusted sources (and be wary of trusted ones too)
5. Log out of your computer at night
6. Set up a firewall
7. Read our Ten Steps to Laptop Security list

Absolute Software’s Computrace LoJack for Laptops comes with 2 editions, Premium and Standard, allowing you to protect all the computers in your home office. The Premium edition comes with the advanced capabilities to not just help recover lost laptops, but to remotely delete sensitive data.

The FTC also has out a guide for businesses wanting to protect personal information. This guide is geared to businesses of all sizes, but is particularly useful for the small business owner. If you are in the business of dealing with a lot of sensitive information, consider that there may be more advanced solutions to storing data off-premises, via a secure business network solution and even physical data storage.

Other articles on the blog you may find interesting:

• Handheld Devices Big Security Threat
• Hotel Network Security
• NCIX Mobile Security Tips for Overseas Travel
• Federal CISOs Green Light Telework
• Trusting Contractors with Laptops
• Unofficial Teleworkers Put Federal Data at Risk

Cornell University School of Hotel Administration has released the results of a study on “Hotel Network Security“. The study concluded that US hotels are “generally ill-prepared” to protect their guests from network security issues.”

The study was conducted by Josh Ogle, Erica L. Wagner Ph.D. and Mark P. Talbert of Cornell University’s Center for Hospitality Research. The study of 147 US hotels found that there was a mixed picture with regard to the security of guest connections to the hotel wired and wireless networks.

Many business travelers use their hotel to continue working on the road, an increasingly common practice with the mobile workforce of today. However, as we’ve talked about in many instances on the Absolute blog, this places sensitive corporate information at risk.

According to the study, some hotels still rely on basic hub technology for their networks, which broadcasts every packet from every user to other users (no security). Others may have upgraded to more secure switches or routers, or may have encryption for Wi-Fi connections. Even with all of these upgrades, malicious lurkers can still intercept guest transmissions.

Highlights from the study:

• 20% of hotel networks use hub topologies
• 90% of hotels offered wireless access
• Out of the 39 hotels that had supplemental site visits, only 6 had wireless encryption
• 21% of hotels reported that malicious activity had taken place on their networks

The report outlines an example of best practice, with the case of the W Dallas Hotel – Victory. They have set up virtual local area networks (VLANs) for all hotel guests, inhibiting attackers from using the most common means of data intercept. The study goes so far as to lay fault on hotels that are not using available technology to protect hotel guests.

A number of recommendations were also made for hotel guests, including having an updated firewall, using the secure socket layer (SSL) protocol for transactions, and using virtual private network (VPN) or SSL-based email.

Download link: Hotel Network Security: A Study of Computer Networks in U.S. Hotels [PDF] Author note: at the time of publishing, the PDF link was not working well.

Via GCN ; Image: Microsoft Clipart