I will be travelling in Asia (Hong Kong and Thailand) around year end and am worried about security on our devices. Most of the devices my family and I will take along will have no working sim card, thus we’ll be using available wifi connections. What should we do to stay safe? If measures are recommended then I am looking for a budget friendly solution - we will take along 4 iphones, 3 ipads, and 1 macbook. Thank you.
If using your devices on-line using a public WiFi hotspot, you would be very wise to use a paid VPN product from a provider with a good reputation. There are many to choose from, but a very good option (with an exceeding good Black Friday deal over this weekend) is hide.me VPN; one “premium” subscription will cover up to 10 devices. Hide.me also offer a trustworthy free service - limited to a relatively generous 2GB per month per account. That said, in general you should avoid [as in, do not trust] the majority of “free” VPN services.
Additionally, if not using a trusted VPN solution, you would be well advised to manually override your DNS settings - and use either Quad9 DNS (9.9.9.9 & 149.112.112.112) or Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1 & 1.0.0.1). This will help to prevent DNS hijacking - and help prevent malicious content from reaching your devices. This measure costs you nothing but a few seconds of time - but the settings will have to be repeated for each WiFi network you join (it is possible to automate this, but the description of “how” is somewhat beyond the scope of this discussion thread).
One final measure to consider is downloading 1Blocker from the App Store. This is a sophisticated content filter and blocker - for both iPad/iPhone and Mac. Without purchasing the optional subscription, it is free to use - but the enhanced functionality included with the subscription is well worth the outlay (and recommended) if you can stretch to it.
I hope you find this advice helpful. Have a great and cyber-safe trip to the Far East!
If using your devices on-line using a public WiFi hotspot, you would be very wise to use a paid VPN product from a provider with a good reputation. There are many to choose from, but a very good option (with an exceeding good Black Friday deal over this weekend) is hide.me VPN; one “premium” subscription will cover up to 10 devices. Hide.me also offer a trustworthy free service - limited to a relatively generous 2GB per month per account. That said, in general you should avoid [as in, do not trust] the majority of “free” VPN services.
Additionally, if not using a trusted VPN solution, you would be well advised to manually override your DNS settings - and use either Quad9 DNS (9.9.9.9 & 149.112.112.112) or Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1 & 1.0.0.1). This will help to prevent DNS hijacking - and help prevent malicious content from reaching your devices. This measure costs you nothing but a few seconds of time - but the settings will have to be repeated for each WiFi network you join (it is possible to automate this, but the description of “how” is somewhat beyond the scope of this discussion thread).
One final measure to consider is downloading 1Blocker from the App Store. This is a sophisticated content filter and blocker - for both iPad/iPhone and Mac. Without purchasing the optional subscription, it is free to use - but the enhanced functionality included with the subscription is well worth the outlay (and recommended) if you can stretch to it.
I hope you find this advice helpful. Have a great and cyber-safe trip to the Far East!
As a postscript to my earlier reply, upon reflection, a simple way to automate use of Cloudflare DNS is to download (for free) the Cloudflare App from the Apple App Store - just search for 1111 Warp - and you’ll find it.
When configured, the Cloudflare App will configure what looks like a VPN profile in your VPN Settings. You should note that despite appearance, it is not a VPN solution - but its implementation within iPadOS/iOS makes it look very much one. Because of this, use of the Cloudflare App is mutually exclusive with a true VPN solution. Enabling the App as a default setting will provide a reasonable level of DNS hijack protection and provide a good level of known malicious website avoidance.
Your devices will be just as secure as at home, just out of contact when not in WiFi range.
As an aside, if you all will be in close proximity of each other during your travels, you may want to rent a pocket WiFi device to share when you are away from your hotel. This will allow you to use Safari, Maps, etc., while out and about.
Security on iPad
