Cybersecurity

Holidays safe from scams and cyber attacks: ten useful tips

In the hotel, at the airport, at the beach, it is normal to let your guard down. Criminals know this and ambush us.

7 August 2024

4' min read

On holiday, we open our hearts to new experiences. The heart, yes, but not the wallet to the catastrophic experience of a cyber attack or online scam. At the hotel, at the airport, at the beach, it is normal to let our guard down. Criminals know this and ambush us.

Here are some guidelines for keeping information, devices and, in general, protecting ourselves from scams that arrive when and where we do not expect them.

Connecting to public Wi-Fi

1)We avoid unprotected Wi-Fi. If you want to save GB, perhaps abroad where, outside the United Europe, roaming is expensive, it is normal to look for a public Wi-Fi network. Fine, but let's make sure it's a legitimate network. That it has the name of the real one, the one in the hotel, restaurant, or café you trust.

2)Use a Vpn. A virtual private network (Vpn) can encrypt your connection, making it more difficult for attackers to intercept your data when you are connected to unsecured networks. There are also vpn apps on mobile phones. Among the most popular, also in the free version, is ProtonVpn. Free vpn apps, however, tend to slow down the connection a lot. We use them to protect access to sites with passwords or where we enter our credit cards.

Personal Hotspot

3)We protect our hotspot. It may happen that we use our smartphone as a hotspot, for example to give us a connection to a computer where we can watch a video, a TV series. Or to give internet to our children. Then it is necessary to protect our hotspot with a strong password. Pirates, if they use our hotspot, can steal GB and personal data from us.

We certainly avoid leaving it open unprotected and disable it when not in use, to reduce the risk of unauthorised access and to save the device's battery.

Load mobile phone

4)The empty mobile phone is a great holiday classic. However, always use reliable chargers and cables. Public USB ports, such as those found in airports or other public places, can be risky. They could be compromised and used to install malware on devices and steal data. It is better to use our own charger and connect it directly to a power outlet or a secure usb adapter ('usb data blocker') that only allows charging and not data transfer.

5) It is also good to use our own power bank to charge devices. But make sure it is a reliable and certified brand. Some power banks and chargers can damage them.

Online scams strike all year round, but at this time there are two that are particularly aggressive.mRomance scams and accommodation and booking scams.

Romantic scams

6)The greater free time on holiday as well as the desire to get away, in this period, makes us more vulnerable to being circuited on social networks by criminals with fake profiles, hunting for our money. "The age of the victims circumvented by false suitors on social networks is around 50 years old and those who become involved are often women from heterogeneous social backgrounds," explains the postal police.

"The male sex, in general, is less affected by this type of scam, although there are cases in which many Italian men have allowed themselves to be 'beguiled' by male perpetrators who pretended to be women, especially foreigners, through social accounts with provocative photographs and images, presenting themselves as models and, not infrequently, as rich heiresses.

In general, the criminals contact the victim on social networking sites, sending a friend request and using images of very attractive men who often present themselves as businessmen or military personnel serving in war-torn countries, or in high-ranking positions, and who make the victim believe that they are single, widowed or separated.

These are fake images. After having established this false but intense virtual 'friendship' relationship, the fraudsters begin to ask for money, citing a variety of fanciful motives related to serious health reasons or the desire to buy a variety of travel tickets to reach the victim.

It also happens that the fraudster, once he has gained the victim's trust, proposes stock or bitcoin investments on platforms that are actually a trap, where the money disappears.

Accommodation and booking scams

7)Advertisements may also arrive on social networks or by e-mail with proposals for travel, accommodation at favourable prices. The risk that they are bogus is high. One pays, arrives at the place and finds nothing. Or, a dilapidated accommodation, quite different from what was promised. All fake. There are 1.8 million Italians who have suffered a scam of this kind, in the last year, according to a recent survey commissioned by Facile.it from mUp Research and Bilendi. The damage amounts to 643 million euro.

The advice is to only book through secure platforms or establishments that we can verify through various sources (websites, reviews, calling contact numbers...).

8)Then there are sites that offer tickets for museums, attractions, guided tours at much higher prices than the official ones. Viagogo has been sanctioned several times by the Agcom authority. We use official channels for these things.

Updates and two-factor authentication

Finally, two evergreen tips, but which come in more handy on holiday.

9)Security updates: keep your device's operating system and applications up-to-date with the latest security patches.

10)Two-factor authentication: we enable two-factor authentication for your online accounts to add an extra layer of protection. That way, if your password is stolen via Wi-Fi or other methods, at least they won't be able to enter your account directly.