Chris Brook

Many of EFF’s recommendations involve copying data onto an external device and then removing it from the device you’ll be carrying across the border. When doing this, you will want to make sure that the data you delete is actually gone. Simply pressing the ‘delete’ key or emptying the desktop waste basket makes the data disappear, but it doesn’t necessarily remove the data in question from a device.

The EFF are huge proponents of full-disk encryption with strong cryptography on every device you own. This is especially true if you’re concerned about having your mobile device seized at the border. A government forensics expert can easily crack any password or bypass it altogether (for example, by booting the system from a CD or USB device.) Full-disk encryption with a strong passphrase ensures that border agents can only enter your device with your consent. It also protects your data if your device is lost or stolen.

Searches and seizure is not limited to personal computers or laptops. Any device that stores data is fair game for Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agents. This includes all computers, laptops, tablets, mp3 and mobile media players, digital cameras, hard-drives, and any other mobile device you can imagine. If it stores data, Customs can search it. To be fair, the government only conducts these types of searches 300 or so times a month. So the likelihood of being searched is still small.

The EFF has some advice for interacting with border agents. First: don’t lie to them. This is a punishable crime regardless of whether you are lying to cover something up or not. It is always better to decline answering than it is to give a false answer. Don’t obstruct an Agent’s investigation or attempt to delete data once it becomes clear that an agent intends on examining a device. Just write down the agent’s identifying information and collect a receipt for your property. Be courteous, but firm. Only a judge can make you reveal a passphrase or otherwise decrypt a machine.

With U.S. Customs agents increasingly interested in the contents of digital devices like iPhones, iPads and laptops, The Electronic Frontier Foundation has issued guidance for getting your mobile device across the border safely and protecting the data on it should it get seized.

Major banks like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group and Bank of America are putting together plans to help identify new security threats before they happen, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal this week.

More and more fraudulent sites have wrestled their way onto Alexa’s global top 250 ranking list thanks to typosquatting, a technique that attackers use to deceive users into clicking into the wrong website.