Urge to connect at any cost is putting international travelers at risk, finds Kaspersky Lab

Woburn, MA – June 28, 2016 –According to a study by Kaspersky Lab, a high proportion of people are connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi networks while traveling internationally, putting their personal data at risk. The research, which polled 11,850 people from across the U.S., Europe, Russia, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, found that eight in ten people (82 percent) connect to free-to-use public access Wi-Fi networks in airport terminals, hotels, cafes or restaurants.

As increasing amounts of essential travel information is stored online, travelers often opt to connect upon arrival to access important documents. The study found that 39 percent of those polled connect to Wi-Fi while traveling in order to access maps, hotel confirmations, check-in details and boarding passes. Many look to connect to Wi-Fi despite the fact that doing so will expose them to cyber threats, rather than incur roaming charges.

According to the study, by the time people are leaving the airport, 44 percent have already gone online. About 69 percent of them are connecting in order to let family they have arrived safely, while for 38 percent work is the driving factor. In addition, one in three connect to access social media or simply get online as soon as possible. Although so many people are connecting, half admit that they forget their connected devices are crammed with sensitive, personal information because they use them for so many other things, such as taking pictures and using GPS navigation.

The lack of regard for network security plays directly into the hands of cybercriminals, with 18 percent of travelers having been a victim of cybercrime while away from home, compared to 6 percent of those who have faced physical crime. This is not surprising if you consider the fact that digital habits barely change when people are abroad, even though while traveling people may be more exposed to unsecure public networks. Around half of survey respondents say they bank (61 percent) and shop (55 percent) online over Wi-Fi while abroad. People become more vulnerable to cyber threats when they are traveling and may increase their online activity while they are not connected to a familiar network. For example, 13 percent is more likely to post on social networks when abroad, and 14 percent says they shop online more using their credit card.

Eugene Kaspersky, chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, said: “I travel a lot. My business schedule is all about meetings, conferences and negotiations right around the globe. More than 100 flights a year is the norm for me. And of course I use various public Wi-Fi networks to access the Internet all the time. The first thing I do after connecting to the net is connect to a VPN (in my case the Kaspersky Lab VPN), and that is pretty much the best precaution I’d recommend anyone. That and, of course, keeping all your software – including your security suite – up-to-date, and not trusting anyone on the Internet.”

Read more about this report here: https://blog.kaspersky.com/kaspersky-lab-international-travel-report/

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Media Contact:
Sarah Kitsos
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sarah.kitsos@kaspersky.com