The Most Important Travel Cybersecurity Tool

The Most Important Travel Cybersecurity Tool

Following the international shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is slowly but surely returning to normal and starting to recover from the severe economic impacts that the virus has left us with. One of the most critical parts of recovery is the reopening of international borders and the rebirth of international travel. From business trips to holidays, everyone is eager to start traveling once again now that it’s being encouraged by just about every government around the world. After all, you’re helping local businesses and hospitality industries to thrive once again if you travel to different countries!

Everyone is keen to jump on a plane again, but it’s important to keep in mind that cybercrime has flourished since the last time we traveled. Hackers have become more cunning and have developed new strategies to break into their victims’ devices. If you’re traveling abroad, your device is more at risk than anywhere else — especially if you’re using public WiFi hotspots. They’re convenient and cheap to use, but they come with some serious risks. That’s why you need to suit up with the most powerful cybersecurity tool for traveling which is VPN, and VPN stands for a virtual private network, which provides essential online security and privacy.

They’re known as VPNs for short, and that’s how you’ll see them being referred to in this article. If you don’t keep your devices safe and secure while traveling, you could be facing some serious consequences! If you’re not sure what the risks of traveling are and why this VPN is so critical for someone traveling abroad, keep reading to get all the details below!

The Threats Your Device Face When Traveling

When traveling we usually need to use public WiFi hotspots. Using your mobile data can be incredibly expensive, and it’s not always worth converting your phone’s sim card to a local one for just a few days. In our modern world, you can’t go without the internet either — everything from your maps to your online banking profile, and even your emails require you to connect your phone to a source of internet.

Public WiFi hotspots are the easiest, cheapest, and most convenient way to get your devices connected to the internet. They’re commonly found at airports, hotels, and restaurants, so it’s easy for travelers to get connected to the internet and catch up on their emails, social media news feeds or even check their banking profiles.

The only problem is that when you connect to one of these public WiFi hotspots, you’re using an unsecured network. Unsecured networks pose a serious threat to your devices because cybercriminals often use them to launch their cyberattacks. The most common cyberattack that hackers use on unsecured networks is digital eavesdropping.

Hackers can listen in on your devices as they send and receive data through the internet. If you’re logging into accounts they can steal your login credentials, if you’re paying for things online such as your hotel room or your local transportation they can steal your credit card details, and if you’re entering personal information into a form online they can also steal critical personal details from your device as its sent over the internet.

They can use these details in a variety of ways. Firstly, they can use it to their own advantage, such as committing fraud or identity theft. On the other hand, they could also sell your information on the dark web to other dangerous hackers.

VPNs Keep Your Devices Safe

However, you can invest in one of the best cybersecurity tools for your device when traveling abroad. The cybersecurity tool in question is a virtual private network, also known as a VPN. The main purpose of a VPN is to encrypt your internet connection. When your connection is encrypted, no one can see what you’re doing on your device while using it online — keeping all of your activity anonymous and out of the hands of cybercriminals. VPNs are crucial for travel, especially if you’re going to be using unsecured networks that could potentially put your devices at risk.

VPNs also have secure global servers that you can connect to. Each of these servers is situated in a different country or city around the world. When you connect to one of these servers, a secure tunnel is created between your device and the server before directing your internet traffic to the internet. However, when connecting to these servers, the VPN will also hide your IP address — the unique identifier that websites use to determine your device’s geographical location.

This gives travelers another reason to install a VPN on their devices. By using a VPN, you can connect to a server in another country and spoof your device’s location. This allows you to bypass geo-blocking restrictions, unblock websites hidden by internet censorship, and even get discounts on flights and accommodation.

Thanks to this feature and the multitude of benefits that come with a VPN, this cybersecurity tool is ideal for anyone who is planning on traveling abroad soon.

How to Install a VPN on Your Device

Installing a VPN on your device is incredibly easy. But before you install one on your device, you first need to decide which one you’re going to use. The most important thing to remember is that you always need to use premium VPNs as opposed to free VPNs.

That’s because free VPNs come with some serious drawbacks that will heavily impact your browsing experience. For example, using a free VPN could lead to slower connection speeds, poor security technology, fewer global servers to choose from, and some intrusive ads. However, you won’t run into any of these issues if you’re using a premium VPN.

You need to do thorough research on different VPN providers because each of them is unique with its strengths and weaknesses. Once you’ve found your favorite one, it’s just a matter of creating an account with the VPN provider and installing the VPN on your devices. From there you can choose any global server that you want to connect to, and within a matter of seconds your VPN can get your device connected to the server and you’re good to go!