Accessing the internet has become a daily habit in most of our lives. It is a useful tool that allows us to stay connected with our friends and family, access important information and make our day to day life more convenient than ever.

This is even more the case when travelling. From booking hotels to letting your family know how you’re doing, using the internet is something most travellers will do fairly frequently.

Recently the number of of free wifi connections you will likely encounter during your trip has drastically increased. Available in bars, hotels and coffee shops throughout the world, free wifi is convenient and allows you to access the internet in a number of places.

Of course, all this free wifi and cheap internet cafes don’t come without their risks. From hackers watching your wifi to old pc’s riddled with viruses there are many things to watch out for while using the internet abroad (as there of course are at home too).

This article will alert you of some of the potential dangers, as well as of some of the effective ways you can protect yourself.

The abundance of free wifi you’ll come across when travelling can be an absolute godsend. Those worrying moments when you arrive in a new city only to have absolutely no idea about where anything is can be solved in a second by some free wifi in a cafe or or bar.

What you need to remember though is that these connections aren’t necessarily secure. Think about it, if you are able to access the wifi, that of course means many other people are also able to access it.

When using wifi try to use ones that require a password, as you at least know that there is some limit to the people who use these connections. Also it will probably be best to avoid typing in any sensitive data and especially making payments on these connections.

One way to make these connections safer is to use a VPN. A VPN will encrypt all data that

from your device which will make it much harder for anyone looking in to see what you are doing online.

If you ever need to use a public wifi connection a VPN can certainly make it a little safer to do so.

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Use caution when logging onto public computers

If you don’t have a device that allows you to connect to the internet with you, internet cafes or public computers can be really helpful.

However, have you ever been stuck at one of these computers, with each page taking ages to load? Of course you have! That is because most of the time, these computers aren’t exactly in the best shape. What with years of public use and often no one really caring enough to look after them, these computers can be a security nightmare.

As well as viruses, it is possible for people to install keyboard tracking software that checks for passwords as well as a whole host of other nasties.

As with public wifi, it is advisable to use caution when using these computers. Try to avoid putting in too much sensitive data when using them.

Check the settings on internet cafe computers

Even if the computer is clean, you should also make sure to check things such as browser settings. Browsers often (innocently) try to do things like save your passwords and login data so you should make sure this isn’t the case before using these computers. At the very least, if the browser has an incognito mode you should probably try to use it.

Using strong passwords is a sensible idea whether you are travelling or not. Use a combination of lower/upper case letters, numbers, and special characters to really make your password as strong as possible.

You should also keep it to at least eight characters and try to change your password as often as possible. Finally try not to use the same password for every account you have.

If you can, type in https into your browser before the www. instead of http. If you do this and a padlock appears next to the address, it means your connection is encrypted. Many sites such as

and Facebook offer this service and it makes it much harder for people to steal your data when using these sites.

Use your cell phone data if you have a decent plan

One thing to consider is using your phone’s data when travelling abroad. A lot of phone networks offer some kind of international data roaming plan that can be cheaper than expected.

As well as the huge convenience that having your own data gives you, data you send on your phone’s network is usually much harder to incept than data sent on a wifi network.

Of course you should confirm with your network about what their exact rules and regulations are in relation to using you phone abroad.

The availability of the internet has arguably made travelling much easier than ever before. It is a convenient solution to many problems and allows travellers to stay in contact with the the people they care about.

While it should not be ignored, a little vigilance when using the internet abroad can help keep you and your data safe and ensure you have the best possible trip away!

How to Protect your Internet Security While Travelling

Network (VPN), is a piece of software that allows you to connect to a private network through a public network.

When you are connected to this private network, all data that is sent and received between websites and your computer is encrypted and sent through a server.

This has a number of uses some of which are:

While these are all certainly useful thing, today we are going to focus specifically on how a VPN can protect your privacy online, and how using one can help you browse the internet safely.

And don’t forget, if you want to try a VPN out for free, then why not head over to

Why should I use a VPN to protect my privacy?

As internet use becomes more and more widespread, so do the threats that come along with it. As well as this, as things such as NSA scandal show, surveillance of what you are doing on the net is also increasing.

Using a VPN is one way to reduce your susceptibility to some of the threats on the internet. This is because a VPN makes it harder for people, whether your ISP, hackers, the government or your boss to watch what you are doing on the internet.

A VPN does this by first encrypting your data, and then by sending it through a server. Let’s take a look at how these two things protect your

One of the main things a VPN does is encrypt your data. This means it changes it from its original form, into data that no-one can understand. This means that if anyone manages to intercept the data, instead of seeing your private information they will just see a lot of indecipherable gibberish.

The second thing a VPN does that protects your privacy is that it redirects your incoming and outgoing data through a server. This means that if people try to track your web browsing, they won’t see you computer or the websites you are visiting, they will just see the server you have been redirected through.

When you use the internet without a VPN all your data is unencrypted and passes through your ISP (Internet service provider).

This means that your ISP can easily see and keep a record of what you are browsing. This data can then be passed along to anyone who may require access to this data such as the government.

However, when using a VPN, all your data is encrypted and

through the VPN’s servers. This means that it is harder for you ISP to see what you are accessing, instead, it only sees that you are connected to the VPN server.

The location of your IP address also changes from your home location to that of your VPN’s server.

Protect yourself when using a public wifi hotspot

The other main protection a VPN offers you is that it gives you extra protection when using public wifi hotspots.

Anytime you connect to a wifi hotspot you are essentially putting your data into the hands of an unknown quantity. If you use these wifi spots frequently your data could be at risk numerous times a week.

All it takes is for one of these public spots to be hacked and all your data from that session could have been stolen. That could include things such as work emails, facebook passwords or even internet banking.

It is also worth mentioning that even if you trust the hotspot provider, if the network is unprotected (ie no password, anyone can access it), there is still a chance of danger. This is because hackers can access the public network as easily as you can.

However, by using a VPN when you connect to public WiFi hotspots, your connection is encrypted. This means that is if anyone on the public network is trying to intercept your data it will be much harder for them to see your information.

Of course, VPN’s aren’t completely foolproof and there are a couple of things you should think about.

Firstly your data will go through your VPN provider. This essentially means that you should make sure you trust the provider to look after your data. As a VPN providers livelihood is essentially made on selling a product that protects people’s privacy, most providers try to keep as little of your data as possible. However, this is still something that you should check.

The second downside is that encrypting all your data and sending it through servers on the other side of the world can mean your internet connection slows down. While most people’s connections are fast enough for it not to be especially noticeable, you can keep things as fast as possible by choosing servers that are as close to your destination as possible.

And that is all for our roundup of how a VPN can protect your privacy online. We hope that after reading this article you understand why, along with your antivirus software, getting a VPN can be a crucial part of your internet security tools.