Building a Digital Defense When You Are On-the-Go

The FBI’s Portland, Oregon office has published an advisory discussing best practices for when you are on-the-go. Noting the tendency for people in these situations to access public WiFi, the advisory recommends the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Discussed frequently by WaterISAC, including in its 15 Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Water and Wastewater Utilities (see #4, “Enforce User Access Controls”), a VPN creates a secure tunnel for your data to traverse the Internet, using a network of private servers. When you use a VPN, your data is encrypted, or hidden, as it moves from your device to the VPN and then continues onto the Internet through what’s called an exit node. it’s harder for an attacker to identify you as the source of the data. Even if attackers can intercept your data, the encryption means the attackers can’t understand your data or use it to their advantage. As noted in the advisory, there are a lot of options for choosing a VPN service, and it offers a series of questions to ask to assist with making the choice. Additionally, the “Enterprise VPN Security” webpage recently posted by DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) offers additional considerations for choosing and setting up VPNs. Read the advisory at the FBI.