G DATA Software AG: Antivirus, Virenschutz, Virenscanner, Internet Security

Bochum (Germany), 03 July 2008 - For many holiday areas, the tourist industry is the number one source of income. But souvenir sellers, restaurants and nightclubs are not the only ones profiting from the travellers’ loose purse strings. Online criminals also cash in during the holiday period. G DATA cautions against being too careless with personal data whilst in a holiday mood. Checking your account balance, booking flights in internet cafes using a credit card or using unsecured WLANs could spoil tourists’ holidays once they return home. Badly protected internet cafes still pose the biggest risk. The PCs used here are often highly infected with malware and deliver sought-after user data straight to the online criminals.

Ralf Benzmüller, manager of G DATA Security Labs, therefore issues this urgent warning: “Publicly accessible computers in internet cafes, hotels and airports are usually insufficiently equipped with anti-virus software. Hence, there is a higher risk that the computers are infected with spyware or other malware. If you check your account balance from here whilst on holiday, your access data could quickly end up in the hands of criminals. Of course, the same risk applies to using a credit card for online purchases. Travellers who cannot or do not wish to be without their notebooks whilst travelling face an additional risk. Here, we must advise against the use of unsecured WLANs in general. The entire data traffic can be easily intercepted by criminals. Even when using secure connections, you should, in any case, use a security suite with a powerful firewall. To limit the damage should your computer be stolen, we also recommend encrypting and backing up the data before the start of your trip.”

Seven travel tips:

1. Avoid online banking and online shopping in internet cafes or public terminals in general.

2. After using internet cafes or public terminals, delete temporary browser files, the browser history and cookies.

3. Do not forget to log off, if you have logged on to a website as a registered user. Otherwise, the next user of the computer could access your account.

4. To send holiday greetings, you should set up a special email account before the start of your trip, for example, at yahoo.com or web.de. Then, if your access data is stolen, all your email correspondence cannot be freely accessed.

5. If you are using WLAN hot spots or hotel networks from your own notebook, you must use an internet security suite with anti-virus protection and a firewall.

6. As an alternative to WLANs: use of an UMTS card is expensive but there are significantly fewer risks involved in it.

7. Especially for notebook users: encrypt all important data on the hard drive before the start of the trip and also make a backup.