On social media I recently saw a funny photo meme. It was a picture of a room with bricks of money stacked in it. The caption says:
“NIGERIAN MAN DIES
AUTHORITIES FIND 27 BILLION DOLLARS IN HIS APARTMENT. HE HAD BEEN TRYING TO GIVE IT AWAY FOR 15 YEARS BUT NO ONE WOULD RETURN HIS E-MAILS.”
Anyone who has been on social media knows the e-mail scam I’m talking about. Who has not gotten one of these bogus e-mails?
Don’t laugh.
There’s actually people who have answered the call for help and readily typed in their bank account numbers; e-mails; and other information. And waited for the Nigerian Prince to send over millions of dollars just-like-that!
Identity theft is not that difficult.
Personally, we’ve had our own e-mails hacked. Our website has been compromised; Facebook has been jumped and more. It’s almost a part of doing business these days.
It has probably happened to you as well. As a business, we’ve got all kinds of firewalls, anti-virus, and techno-booby traps to stop these insidious attacks.
But, hey…if companies like Sony, Google, Facebook, the President, the FBI, CIA, the Pentagon, your favorite athlete etc. with bigger brains and bigger wallets than you and I can be victimized…then you and I are simple cannon fodder for some nerdy genius with a galactic I.Q. and quick keyboard fingers.
Anyway, we live here in Baja. And we also travel extensively in the off-season. It occurred to me that we do an awful lot to safeguard our homes and our personal property from theft and intrusion.
But, one of the most vulnerable times is when we travel. If your technology gets stolen or hacked or cyber-theft occurs, it’s a lot more damaging than if someone steals your car radio or your favorite rod and reel gets lifted.
So, here’s some tips about protecting your “tecno-life” as it were…
• We travel for business. But, if you can, bring less. Fewer credit cards. Fewer gadgets. Do you really need your smart phone AND your tablet/pad AND your laptop?
• Beware of public wi-fi. This includes the free signals at airports and hotels. You never know who is watching. You never know if your information is also being captured. Let alone the bad guys…Even innocuously, the service providers are gathering info on your search patterns; sites you visit, etc.
• If you are using public wi-fi, be conscious of what you’re in-putting and checking. E-mails or checking your flight schedule are OK. Your bank account? Your credit card info? That’s easily hacked.
• Those free charging stations? Often can be used to capture data while you’re cabled in!
• If you’re using the free computer in the business center at the hotel or at an internet café, you have no idea if there’s firewalls or anti-virus programs installed. You have no idea who has been on the computer and what they were doing. At one hotel I lived at for awhile, I found out the hotel night shift spent most of the evening doing online gambling and looking at porn sites!
• Even where you MIGHT trust the wi-fi, think twice. Let’s say the front desk tells you their wi-fi is BEACHHOTEL.com. Fine. But, then you go to the pool and see there’s a free signal at BEACHOTELPOOL.com. Sounds legit. You log in! Hackers set up bogus online signals all the time. Now you’re logged into the hacker’s signal. Everything you type in is now being captured.
• One way to check bogus signals at hotel is to type in a false room number. If you get logged in, then that is NOT the hotel’s e-mail site!
• If you do log into free wi-fi, do your business, then get off. Do not leave your computer logged in while you’re not using it.
• Rather than use a free signal, use your phone signal to get wi-fi. Cellular signals are much more secure. Even better, get a portable hot-spot so you now have your own signal to use in hotel rooms, on the beach, and by the pool. That’s what we use! They’re cheap, small and the size of a credit card.
• After using the computer, especially on a public signal, delete your history.
• Before you even come down, think about changing passwords; using encryption and also updating the latest version of your apps to help foil hackers.
• When not in use, disable your Bluetooth and automatic searches that find signals randomly. They might easily log you right into the lap of a cyberbandit.
These are just a few hints so help safeguard your tech.
But, one last thing. It might be hard to do and you’re so anxious to tell the world on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. that you’re on vacation. Neener neener to your friends and family back home.
Resist the urge. You really don’t want to tell the whole world that you’ll be in Baja, or Maui or Cancun for two weeks enjoying umbrella drinks and sunshine.
It’s not difficult for burglars to find where you live.
DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!
That’s my story!
Jonathan
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Jonathan Roldan has been writing the Baja Column in Western Outdoor News since 2004. Along with his wife and fishing buddy, Jilly, they own and run the Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet in La Paz, Baja, Mexico www.tailhunter-international.com. They also run their Tailhunter Restaurant Bar on the famous La Paz malecon waterfront. If you’d like to contact him directly, his e-mail is: jonathan@tailhunter.com
Or drop by the restaurant to say hi. It’s right on the La Paz waterfront!
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Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website:
www.tailhunter-international.com
Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA 91942
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: http://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/
Tailhunter YouTube Video Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”
That's My Story 
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