The weather has been glorious for the last few weeks and with school holidays starting soon, you might well be dusting off your suitcases for a trip abroad. This month we thought it would be timely to remind you of good practice whilst away from home to keep you and your IT equipment safe.
Stay vigilant
When on holiday you should absolutely be relaxing your mind and recharging your own batteries but don’t forget all your usual cyber hygiene principles – sadly the hackers are just as happy to attack wherever you are and are always looking to exploit any lapses in concentration. Here are some quick tips to help:
- Don’t be tempted to use the free, unsecured Wi-Fi – use a VPN or the 4G hotspot on your mobile
- Make sure you have encryption enabled on all your devices – even if your phone or laptop go missing, nobody can access your data
- Make sure you have your own charging devices that plug into sockets not USB ports on unfamiliar computers
- Turn off Bluetooth – hackers can gain access to your device and steal personal information or install malware
- Don’t leave your devices in direct sunlight
- Drink plenty of water!
NCSC’s Cyber Advisors
Some of you may already be familiar with the UK government-backed Cyber Essentials certification – indeed we at Shoal take cyber security very seriously and have been CE certified for several years. The process requires a rigorous initial audit, implementation of any required processes or changes and comes with an annual fee. The NCSC has now launched its Cyber Advisors scheme, based on CE principles, and targeted at smaller entities that don’t have the capacity for full CE certification but who need help improving their cyber resilience.