Financial advisors are familiar with the essentials of traditional travel: toothbrush, clean underwear and a freshly pressed shirt or blouse. The essentials of high-tech travel are significantly different \u2014 and ignoring them is much riskier.
Advisors need to become tech-savvy travellers and ensure their data is safeguarded before taking a plane, train or rental car.
> Have laptop, will travel. <\/b> The five must-haves while on the road, says Dale Dunphy, a Fredericton-based partner with information-technology firm Halifax Global Inc., are: a laptop, power cables, a mouse, extra batteries for the mouse (if applicable) and an Ethernet cable or wireless card (possibly both are needed).
Dunphy recommends that chargers and adapters be kept together with the devices they power: \u201cA power adapter or charger is often a transformer, which can look suspicious in an X-ray, especially if it\u2019s not accompanied by the device.\u201d
Another good way to reduce suspicion is to register any electronic devices with the Canada Border Services Agency (formerly Canada Customs) before leaving the country. An extra benefit is that, on the return trip, border agents will know you didn\u2019t purchase the laptop while you were out of the country.
While computer memory cards and laptops can journey safely through checkpoint X-ray machines in airports, some precautions are still required. First, do not put your PC laptop in sleep mode before tucking it inside its case, Dunphy warns: \u201cSome laptops can become overheated this way, and screen damage or hardware damage may occur.\u201d
Sleep mode on most Apple iBooks and PowerBooks should be fine during travel, he adds, but when in doubt, shut it down.
> Ramp up security. <\/b> Even though technology has made today\u2019s office a mobile office, being at your desk with a PC and on the road with a laptop are very different work environments. \u201cIt is imperative, now that if you\u2019re travelling, you have a laptop that has a built-in firewall and virus protection,\u201d says David Frazer, director of technical services with F-Secure Inc., a technology firm based in San Jose, Calif.
Hackers are looking to infect your laptop \u2014 and they can do so in less than three minutes, he adds. Once they are inside your system, they search for data \u2014 names, account numbers, financial records \u2014 that they can use to access money or bank accounts.
David Fraser, an expert in privacy law with McInnes Cooper<\/b> in Halifax, recommends advisors take as little information as possible on the road. He notes that most information today can be accessed remotely without the need for a memory stick, CD or laptop loaded with important files.
In case the worst should happen \u2014 your laptop or other hardware is stolen \u2014 you should make it as difficult as you can for someone to access the information inside.
\u201cDon\u2019t use obvious passwords,\u201d says Frazer. Include upper- and lowercase letters and wild cards (punctuation marks) in your password. Also use file encryption applications, which require a second (different!) password, effectively cutting off hackers before any damage is done.
There is also a need to exercise caution when using a wireless network. Modern technology may make it easy to communicate with head office and work while on the road, but that doesn\u2019t mean it is safe. Most hotels, for example, have an open network, says Frazer. \u201cThere are no restrictions on the content that you view. Your laptop can quickly become infected with spyware.\u201d
> Comply with the law. <\/b> Under Canada\u2019s privacy legislation, if a device contains personal information, you have the legal obligation to safeguard that information, says Fraser. An individual whose information is stolen from your company computer has the right to seek redress through the courts.
The obligation to maintain privacy could get much weightier. A legal challenge currently is wending its way through the Ontario court system that may make it possible for clients to be compensated if their information is merely lost or compromised, even if no actual harm is done.
> Travel with care. <\/b> \u201cIt can be a very scary place out there,\u201d says Frazer. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t take a huge amount to build security for you and your client into your travels.\u201d\tIE<\/b>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Financial advisors are familiar with the essentials of traditional travel: toothbrush, clean underwear and a freshly pressed shirt or blouse. The essentials of high-tech travel are significantly different \u2014 and ignoring them is much riskier. Advisors need to become tech-savvy travellers and ensure their data is safeguarded before taking a plane, train or rental car.> […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3013,3018],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329174"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329174\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329174"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=329174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}