Stay cyber safe while travelling
When travelling, it’s important to protect yourself and UQ from cyber security threats that may impact personal or institutional data and devices.
Best practices start before boarding the plane. You may face a variety of cyber security threats when travelling.
Follow these requirements to stay cyber safe at every stage of travel.
Before you travel
- Check that you can connect to the UQ VPN remotely on your UQ device. In some countries, VPN is illegal or restricted so check the laws of the country.
- If you are travelling to a country where VPN is illegal or restricted, contact IT support before leaving to discuss the most secure way to access the internet.
- Confirm you can access the MFA Management portal (by completing the form) in case you lose your phone while travelling.
- Set strong passwords, passphrases or PINs on all devices. Read more about password and security guidelines.
- Enable automatic screen lock on all devices.
- Disable the ‘auto-join wifi’ function on all devices.
- Back up any device you’ll be travelling with.
- Remove any UQ data from your device that is classified as 'sensitive' or 'protected' unless required during the trip, and cannot be accessed using other file storage methods. Note, this includes unpublished research data. Read more about information security classification and secure file storage.
During your travel
- Always use the UQ VPN when accessing the internet on your UQ device, unless you are in a country where VPN is illegal or restricted.
- Avoid connecting to public wifi networks (e.g. airports, hotels, coffee shops) they aren’t secure and can be used to steal information. Read more about using wifi safely.
- Don't use public USB charging ports or public charging stations. Use your charger instead.
- Keep your devices in a safe and secure location and make sure they are screen locked or shut down when not with you. Read more about physical security.
Border control searching your device
If border controls request access to your UQ device and/or if you are required to download any software at the border entry, contact IT Support as soon as possible, particularly if your device contains the following information:
- Personal information (e.g. names, residential address, contact information)
- Commercially valuable business information
- Intellectual Property – particularly any valuable or commercially sensitive intellectual property (including any confidential information) of UQ or any third party (e.g. design specifications, data, prototypes, research findings)
- Information classified as 'sensitive' or 'protected' (this includes unpublished research data). Read more about information security classification.
When you return to Australia
Any devices used or obtained abroad can be compromised.
- Before connecting to your home or work network, run a full antivirus device scan on all UQ devices you travelled with.
- Copy any work data saved directly to your device to UQ file shares or authorised cloud storage. Read more about where to store your files and information.
- Keep an eye out for suspicious and unexpected emails or attachments. Find out how to recognise an email scam.
Good cyber security practices while travelling
- Avoid giving out your email and phone number unless necessary.
- Don't accept or use gifts/offers on your device, such as USB drives or chargers that connect to your computer.
- Don't store passwords in your web browser. Use a personal password manager from a reputable vendor.
- Use unique passwords when signing up to new websites or creating new accounts on newly installed apps.
- Only download new software directly from the genuine software website, or from a reputable software download site.