Best practices for traveling to an internet-hostile regime. There is a lot of variance - obviously the regime's capabilities as well as one's own visibility come into play. And, if it isn't obvious, I'm not a security expert. This is not official, legal advice. Everyone needs to research this on their own and make good decisions for themselves. If you're really not tech-savvy, it might be worthwhile to hook up with a tech-savvy friend (or IT professional) to do some of these steps. Regardless, here are some hints from the community: BEFORE YOUR TRIP - your laptop and mobile device should be ones that are fresh - factory reset to the original operating system and best case would be "burners" -- devices that you can factory reset upon return home (some suggested also using a bootable Linux install) - do not link your Dropbox, GDrive, or other file service at any time - do not be logged into GMail, social media sites, etc. - be careful with what photos you have on your phone (before leaving the country especially) - have a virus scanner installed - make sure that all software is up-to-date (Windows Updates, virus scanner) - any sensitive data/documents should be on a USB drive, not kept in an obvious place (like throw it in with your toiletries or something) with an encrypted volume - change all of your passwords to something very secure before your trip - install TOR - consider a mobile security app (Here's a review of some Android ones: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/top-android-security-apps/) - encryption may be illegal and may cause more concern AT THE AIRPORT: - don't be logged into anything - be polite - don't be nervous DURING YOUR TRIP - when on WiFi, DNSCrypt http://www.opendns.com/technology/dnscrypt/ - set up a VPN connection - never leave your devices anywhere (even hotel safe) - assume phone conversations are monitored - turn off GPS - turn on encryption for your social media sites (Facebook encryption http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=215897678434749 Twitter http://blog.twitter.com/2011/03/making-twitter-more-secure-https.html) - some suggest having a different "burner" social media account - be careful posting pictures and updates during trip LEAVING THE COUNTRY - if possible, it might be a good idea to do a factory reset on devices before going to the airport (??) - upon return, do factory resets of all devices - change passwords upon return Thanks to everyone that made suggestions. -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE