Travelling to high-risk countries

When travelling to high-risk countries, please be aware of a few conditions. The risk of being wiretapped or your electronics being infected with malware rises when you are travelling to some areas with higher security risks.

The Norwegian police department has singled out some countries with the most vulnerable cybersecurity. These countries are often referred to as “high-risk countries”. The Norwegian Police Security Service (Norwegian: Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste, abbreviated to PST) has created an overview of these countries in their annual threat assessment for 2019 (you can find the Norwegian version with more information here). In an e-mail received from PST, it has been implied that some of the high-risk countries in 2018 were Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Pakistan.

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When travelling to high-risk countries, it is advisable to follow the general advice on cybersecurity while travelling, and additional safety measures must be taken.

• When travelling to high-risk countries, do not take with you the electronics you use privately, but rather use electronics meant just for the trip (laptops, mobile phones, etc.) that you can borrow from the IT department (see the Loan Equipment service for high-risk country travels in the Service Catalogue for IT-services – NB: page in Norwegian).
• Most of the general advice on cybersecurity while travelling applies to your trip also if you are travelling to high-risk countries.
• Information on how to use the electronic devices provided by the IT department will be given to you when receiving the borrowed devices.

Upon returning, it is important to remember two things:

• Do not connect the travel equipment to the UiB network. Instead, return the equipment to the IT department to receive help in transferring the data safely from the travel equipment to UiBs systems (if there is a need for that).
• It is of utmost importance to change the passwords you have been using while travelling. When changing the password, remember to use a different machine than the one you had on your travels.

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In order to book travel equipment: Register an issue in the BRITA-group at bs.uib.no. In the subject field, write Request to borrow IT-equipment for travel in high-risk countries. In the issue field, please provide the following information:

Name:
Email:
Which country you will be travelling to:
Reason for travel:
What do you wish to borrow (laptop/mobile phone) :
Date of departure:
Date of arrival:

Afterwards, press the “Create Issue” button at the bottom of the form. You will be notified in the issue when the travel equipment is ready and can be picked up in the IT department. When you receive the travel equipment, it will come with instructions on what you have to do before your departure and what you should do when travelling. Please contact us if you are unsure how to prepare for your departure or need any further assistance.