As a frequent traveler, both personally and professionally, this bit of research unnerved me. Of course, it makes sense when you think about it, and none of us should be surprised, but it is a good reminder for those of us who are on the road a lot.

Security researchers at F-Secure in Finland report

Tricky decision to make if you are among the millions that travel for work…. how safe is it? Will the new “laptop travel ban” affect me? What airports am I connecting through that are of concern?  Is public Wi-Fi secure? Did that person just look over my shoulder (a.k.a. Shoulder Surfing) while I was opening an email with client information all over it?

Some examples of reported incidents: full disk copies made while laptop owner was out of the hotel room, laptops stolen at security screening lines, wireless access services have been monitored by third parties to gain information transmitted through Wi-Fi service, malicious software installations (including viruses), and programs that capture log-in data and automatically transmit key data to other locations.
Continue Reading To Travel With My Laptop …or Not!