What should travel writers do stay safe online? | Feature writing webinar
How seriously should you be taking digital security? A cybersecurity expert weighs in
The past few weeks have been awards season, with Travel Media, AITO and the British Guild of Travel Writing celebrating the best in travel writing. Congratulations to all the winners and keep your fingers crossed for Talking Travel Writing, as we’re delighted to have been shortlisted for two brilliant awards.
Travel Connection Group’s The Baubles have recognised us in their Best Partnership award, while we’ve found our way onto the esteemed shortlist for the Women in Journalism Georgina Henry prize at the British Journalism Awards. We’ll be donning our glad rags and leaving the dog with a sitter for both dos, so watch this space.
Finally, before we jump into the real meat of this newsletter, a quick plug for Journo Resources’ next webinar, How To Self-Edit Your Own Work (And Make It Better). I [Steph] will be joining Jem for this hour-long event on November 14, where we’ll be diving into how to self-edit your writing like a pro. Use the code TTWSteph23 to buy a ticket for £3 rather than £4 here.
[Webinar] How to write travel features to wow your editor (and get re-commissioned…)
What IS a good piece of travel writing? What makes a really good travel feature, one that editors love and want more of? Why do some writers get re-commissioned over and over again? Essentially, why do some features 'pop' while others fall a little flat?
On November 29, Meera Dattani will be joined by deputy head of travel at The Guardian, Jane Dunford; travel journalist and Lonely Planet commissioning editor, Daniel Fahey; and travel journalist, former Wanderlust editor and host of the Wander Woman Travel Podcast, Phoebe Smith to discuss how to write travel features that 'sing'.
Tickets are £6 including recording — you will receive a recording even if you can’t attend on the day itself.
This is the second in a series of webinars curated and hosted by travel journalist and editor Meera Dattani in collaboration with Talking Travel Writing. Miss the last webinar, The fine art of pitching (and following up…)? You can buy the recording for just £6 here.
The past few weeks have seen plenty of talk of travel scams. First, there was Heidi Fuller-Love’s tale in The Telegraph of how she fell victim to a fake Aegean Airlines account on Twitter and was relieved of over £500 from her bank account. A few days later, Simon Calder, after discovering there are now five fake easyJet accounts on Twitter, re-shared this piece about scammers targeting consumers who had their flights cancelled by the airline in June.
Worryingly, the very online nature of the world — and the anonymity that platforms such as Twitter offer to potential scammers — means we need to be extra careful when it comes to digital security. And, as travel journalists roaming the globe, connecting to unsecured wifi networks and tweeting about being away from home, we could be putting ourselves at more risk.
We spoke with Rob Pritchard, founder of The Cyber Security Expert about what we should and shouldn’t be doing when it comes to digital security.
This month, we’ll be diving into a range of different topics around the theme of security:
Nov 14: How to keep your stuff — and yourself — secure on the road
Nov 21: What should you be doing to perpetuate your job security?
Nov 28: Insecurity and imposter syndrome: here’s how to overcome it
Upgrade to a paid subscription (just £7 a month or £60 a year) to get access to this month’s emails, as well as our entire back catalogue of newsletters.
As we’ve seen recently, digital scams are becoming more cunning; but when it comes to avoiding falling victim to one, Rob’s answer is simple. “Don't exchange any personal information in private chats on Twitter.” Not only is this due to a lack of end-to-end encryption, meaning anybody at Twitter can see that data (“Twitter do not have the best reputation for trustworthiness,” he points out), but because this approach is one increasingly being used by scammers.
If you are approached by someone claiming to be from a company, then Google their customer services lines and call them directly, Rob says. “Don't use a number that's been provided to you by somebody who might be interested in getting you to phone that number.”
As Heidi concluded in her Telegraph piece, while it might feel extremely cathartic to @ companies on Twitter and complain loudly, going through the official channels shown on their websites is a far safer option.
But what about when we’re abroad? You might have used a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which serve multiple purposes. Not only do they hide the location you’re connecting from (handy for watching the UK version of Netflix abroad!), but they also encrypt any information you send across the web — such as your online banking login or passport details — thus preventing it from being intercepted by hackers and used to break into your accounts or for identity theft. But are they as good as they sound for protecting ourselves digitally when we’re travelling?
Rob isn’t a huge fan. “I'm kind of pretty ambivalent on VPN these days. Lots of VPN providers aren't very trustworthy,” he says. “If you want to use a VPN just make sure you pick a provider that you're confident is reputable.”
He gives the example of using the wifi network at an airport — something you might be worried about doing. “You might not particularly trust the airport wifi somewhere. But if you're using the same VPN all of the time, you're aggregating all of your traffic through a single provider. So if you don't trust them, or they are compromised, you haven't really helped yourself.”
Connecting to public wifi is something he doesn’t think we should be too worried about, either. “The threat from wifi networks is pretty minor these days,” he argues, saying how most websites now use Transport Layer Security (TLS), a form of encryption that stops hackers from being able to snoop on the network — and by default, sensitive information you might be sharing. You can identify whether a website has this added layer of security by the lock symbol shown next to the website URL at the top left-hand side of your screen or the use of https within the URL itself
What about when you’re travelling and posting images that show you’re far away from your potentially empty home? If you own a domain name for your portfolio website, you would have been required to provide contact information, such as your home address, when you registered the domain. This information is stored in WHOIS, a public database whose purpose is to allow internet users to identify the owner of a domain and how to get in touch with them. Could thieves use this information to find out where you live and burgle your home while you’re away?
“WHOIS data is private now; [the introduction of] General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) meant that everybody's data is hidden,” Rob says. He’s also not convinced that burglaries tend to operate this way. “I think [burglars] drive by and see if the lights are on and look for who hasn’t got a burglar alarm,” he says, pointing out that even if someone has managed to get hold of your address, they don’t know whether you live alone or not. He also makes a valid point about travel writers in general: “Presumably you're not bathing in diamonds, anyway.”
With much of our lives plotted out on social media, Rob considers stalking to be far more of a risk to us. Keeping your data — your home address and mobile number — as private as you can, is crucial, although it can be hard to do in our industry. “Try not to give away [your location at] a particular hotel until you've checked out,” Rob suggests. Also, “block people judiciously but also report them; these things are crimes.” While he’s not convinced the police will do a huge amount, by creating a police record, you stand in much better stead to take criminal action in the future.
Rob’s top not-so-technical tips for protecting your digital security:
Keep your computer and mobile phone software updated. Updates often include patches to security flaws, and these minimise the likelihood of your device being infected by malware, which can allow hackers to steal your financial data or trick you into providing personal data that can be used for identity theft.
Purchase robust antivirus software. Alongside having a fully updated device, it’s important to have reliable antivirus software, which should further reduce the likelihood of your computer being hacked. Devices tend to come with free antivirus software: for example, Windows has the inbuilt Microsoft Defender Antivirus, while Apple has XProtect and Gatekeeper to keep devices safe. However, this antivirus software may not provide you with all the protection you need; for example, I didn’t realise that Microsoft Defender Antivirus will protect you if you’re using Microsoft Edge (who uses Microsoft Edge?!) but not Chrome.
Ensure all of your passwords are unique. Rob highly recommends investing in a password manager, which generates unique and impossible-to-crack passwords for all of your accounts at the click of a button — and stores them away where only you can access them. I use LastPass, which alerts me if there’s a chance any of my passwords have been compromised in a data breach so that I can change them immediately.
Make use of two-factor authentication for all accounts. Two-factor authentication requires you to not only use a password when logging into an account but also input a code sent to your mobile number or through an app. Rob uses the free app Authy, but there are various options including Microsoft Authenticator and Duo Mobile.
Consider encrypting your devices. This means that if you lose a device, no one else will be able to access the information stored on it, which “for travelling is definitely worth doing,” says Rob. Macs have built-in encryption, but not all Windows computers do. You can check if your Windows computer is encrypted with this handy guide from the University of Cambridge.
If you want to use a VPN, opt for a reputable company. Rob didn’t feel comfortable giving generic advice regarding the best VPNs, however, NordVPN and Surfshark VPN score highly on tech review sites.
Tweet of the week
This sassy tweet by SJ Armstrong got a) too many responses from people who didn’t realise she was joking and b) encapsulated everything most of us feel about travel writing right now🔥
Who to follow
Claudia Rowan has hopped over from The Telegraph to The Times and her inbox is open for pitches.
Industry must-reads
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