Continually hacked while Flying

[michaelk7]

Realize the environment he works in is prime for hacking. My son, a Captain, living in Dallas based in LA. Mostly travels the West, Northern US and Canada. Lately he has had twitter and other accounts hacked more than once.
A friend informs him things are showing up on his account he surely did not post and we receive emails he does not send. He carries an iPad with flight charts only, iPad to download movies from home for the commutes, and his MacBook Pro for time on layovers.

Any ideas on how to elevate the hack problem or increase the difficulty in it, as opposed to closing it down. Other Pilots, have you solved it?
He is on 15 and 15 off. It would get very boring not being able to use a laptop for 15 days.

Any ideas or help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Michael

 

[reyjrar]

Some tips, get a password manager, and never reuse the same password on two sites. Here's a few:

• DashLane
• 1Password
• LastPass

While he's at it, enable two factor authentication on any and all sites that support it. Here's a site with links to documentation and 2FA availability: https://twofactorauth.org/

I also recommend using a hardware-based 2FA solution for "high security" sites and apps. The most important are 1) Your Email Account, and 2) Your Password Manager. Why? Well, your email account usually is used to "recover" your accounts from other sites, so securing your email account is the first thing you need to do. Second, the password store would be the second place an attacker could compromise many accounts at once, so securing that with a hardware 2FA minimizes the exposure.

I like Yubico's YubiKeys. There are a number of them available and they are cheap. The YubiKey Neo supports NFC which means it can work with mobile devices as well.

 

[michaelk7]

Some tips, get a password manager, and never reuse the same password on two sites. Here's a few:

• DashLane
• 1Password
• LastPass

While he's at it, enable two factor authentication on any and all sites that support it. Here's a site with links to documentation and 2FA availability: https://twofactorauth.org/

I also recommend using a hardware-based 2FA solution for "high security" sites and apps. The most important are 1) Your Email Account, and 2) Your Password Manager. Why? Well, your email account usually is used to "recover" your accounts from other sites, so securing your email account is the first thing you need to do. Second, the password store would be the second place an attacker could compromise many accounts at once, so securing that with a hardware 2FA minimizes the exposure.

I like Yubico's YubiKeys. There are a number of them available and they are cheap. The YubiKey Neo supports NFC which means it can work with mobile devices as well.

[doublepost=1470700798][/doublepost]Thank you for the suggestions. I use 1Password, while I do not thing he does.
Appreciate your time I know he spends time in your city.
I will pass it along.
Michael

 

[michaelk7]

[doublepost=1470700798][/doublepost]Thank you for the suggestions. I use 1Password, while I do not thing he does.
Appreciate your time I know he spends time in your city.
I will pass it along.
Michael

[doublepost=1470700798][/doublepost]Thank you for the suggestions. I use 1Password, while I do not thing he does.
Appreciate your time I know he spends time in your city.
I will pass it along.
Michael

 

[steve knight]

could it be the free wifi thats actually bogus so he is running through someone's wifi and getting hacked?

 

[IHelpId10t5]

could it be the free wifi thats actually bogus so he is running through someone's wifi and getting hacked?

Steve makes a great point.

Several critical factors have been mentioned and all are critical for safe Internet use on travel:
1) use a password manager and strong/unique passwords
2) keep your OSs updated
3) use 2FA when available
4) Use a VPN
5) don't use public WiFi

It's amazing how many people use public WiFi. Public WiFi should always be considered hostile and completely untrusted in every way. My advice is to get a cellular data plan that fully meets your needs, use your own personal hotspot for laptops and iPads, and simply NEVER use ANY public WiFi networks. I use exactly two WiFi networks and never any other: 1) my home WiFi that I manage, 2) my work WiFi that I manage.