Don’t drop your digital guard even while on vacation

IT’S TOO easy when taking a well-earned break to forget that even though you’re on holiday, digital deviants, hackers, and phishing scams aren’t.

Compounding the problem is the fact that according to a new global study conducted by McAfee, most of us won’t be able to put our digital devices down during the summer break.

Over one third (38 per cent) of all 9500 respondents admitted that even though they’re meant to be on holiday, that they wouldn’t be able to go a whole 24 hours without checking work or personal email.

What’s more, 52 per cent of US respondents (the firm polled consumers across Australia, France, Germany, the UK and US) said that they typically spend more than an hour a day sifting through email, texts and social media during their vacations.

Holidaymakers are prepared to travel light — 72 per cent said they’re happy to leave the laptop at home — but letting go of a smartphone is a different matter altogether. Just 27 per cent said that they could take their vacation without it.

Yet when asked, only 16 per cent said that the reason they can’t completely unplug is to stay connected to work.

Instead, the most common answer given for keeping connected is maintaining contact with family and friends (62 per cent).

“Our devices are extensions of ourselves that we rely on for more tasks every day,” said Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist at McAfee.

Regardless of the reasons for keeping the phone turned on, when taking a break on foreign shores, most holidaymakers will look to wi-fi to circumvent often exorbitant roaming charges and this is where one of the greatest potential security risk lies.

When asked, 32 per cent of respondents said that if they really need to connect they will turn a blind eye to how secure a wi-fi connection is and 20 per cent admitted that they don’t think about the fact that an open wi-fi connection is open to everyone.

What’s more, while 58 per cent say they know how to tell if a wi-fi connection is secure, only 49 per cent actually take the time to ensure it is sufficiently secure for their purposes. — Relaxnews

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